jinseok choi: Before the Last Spike

On view September 11, 2024 through February 1, 2025
Reception: Saturday, September 28, 2024, 5 – 8 p.m.

One of the most singular historic photographs to come out of 19th-century American history, the "Champagne Photo," as it’s commonly known, celebrates the driving of the last spike that signified the completion of the nation's first transcontinental railroad. What's missing from this image is the Chinese immigrant labor force which was integral to the success of this massive enterprise. With a nod to this historic image, Before the Last Spike presents the work of Los Angeles-based artist jinseok choi, whose art practice examines the intersection of labor, immigration and community through the objects and materials that are used or repurposed in our social and material economy.

Recognizing that the history and issue of immigration is tied to the politics of what the artist identifies as invisible labor, works featured in the exhibition are made from reclaimed items drawn from industries that have a long history with immigrant labor. Choi's use of salvaged matter consisting of antique railroad spikes, fabric offcuts from garment sweatshops, and castoffs from his own work as an arts fabricator imbues his sculptural installation with the political discourse surrounding immigrant labor. Choi's selection of these materials and objects calls attention to them as residue or imprints of labor, time, memory and history that is both personal and public.

With this conceptual undergirding, these sculptures and multimedia works offer up a visual experience that at times belies the critical examination of the artist. The artist's work allows for the materials to speak on their own terms and highlights the invisible system of labor that is also invisible in the art world.

This project was supported, in part, by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.

Image: Before the Last Spike 2, 2023, Fabric scraps rust-dyed with railway spikes

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