U.S. General Services Administration
Art in Architecture: Quiltroad | Sung-Ho Choi
by Cynthia Henry
In 1999, GSA commissioned artist Sung-Ho Choi to create Quiltroad for the U.S. Courthouse in Seattle, Washington. The artwork was created with acrylic on canvas and is located on the 2nd floor by the clerk’s reception office. The long, horizontal painting is 17 feet wide and only 20 inches tall.
Emigrating from South Korea to the United States had a profound effect on Choi’s art. As a bi-cultural artist, his work addresses critical issues in society, specifically his interest in the interactions between different cultures and traditions. Quiltroad is one variation of this artistic endeavor, in which Choi used unique design patterns from different cultural traditions to create a mural that resembles a large quilt.
Choi did extensive research to select 42 different patterns from traditional textile designs of the world. He then combined these into a woven checkerboard pattern to create a colorful and harmonious overall composition.
Choi focused on textiles because they are a rich and complex art form deeply embedded in local cultures and histories, and because they were once one of the major trade items that connected different parts of the world. Extending the idea of connectedness, Choi created Quiltroad as a symbolic patchwork of the hope for a peaceful world.
About the artist
Sung-Ho Choi was born in Seoul, South Korea, and has lived and worked in New York City and Bergen County, New Jersey, since 1981. He received a BFA from Hongik University in Seoul in 1980 and earned his MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, in 1984.
For nearly 45 years, Choi’s work has been shown at many exhibitions in the United States and abroad, including the Amelie A. Wallace Gallery at the State University of New York in Old Westbury; the Augusta Savage Memorial Gallery at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; Artworks Visual Art Center in Trenton, New Jersey; and the Jorgensen Gallery at the University of Connecticut in Storrs; and the American University Museum in Washington, D.C.
In addition to Quiltroad, Choi has completed several other permanent and temporary public art projects, including My America and American Pie (1993) for the Walter Crowley Intermediate School in Elmhurst, New York; Morning Calm for Magnuson Park in Seattle, Washington (1999); and Everlasting Companion (2020) for Kyung Dong High School in Seoul, South Korea.
Throughout the year, we will highlight the artists and artworks in Region 10’s federal and leased spaces as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of GSA’s Art in Architecture program.
- Art in Architecture: Shortest Distance | Cris Bruch
- Art in Architecture: Freedom | Philip McCracken
- Art in Architecture: Louie Louie | Tim Bavington
- Art in Architecture: Quiltroad | Sung-Ho Choi
- Art in Architecture: Grass is Greener | Tad Savinar
- Art in Architecture: Passage | Maxine Martell
- Art in Architecture: Arctic Amphibian | Gerald Conaway
- GSA Celebrates 50 Years of the Art in Architecture Program