Into Something Rich and Strange

Into Something Rich and Strange, a selection of paintings by Younghee Choi Martin, opens Thursday, November 4, at the Nabi Gallery in Chelsea.

Drawing inspiration from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and Virgil’s Aeneid, the work is an original mix of classical and modern, employing a semi-abstract style to express tragic and heroic themes. Affirming that “painting is silent poetry,” the artist brings a refreshing sense of drama to the contemporary scene.

The solo show opens with a reception Thursday, November 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. and continues through December 11. The gallery is at 137 West 25th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues.

From 30 years of painting, Younghee Choi Martin has developed an approach to oils that resonates into the distant past. Steeped in myth and literature, it reveals as well a close study of the Old Masters, an affinity with Impressionist and Cubist methods, and a flair for dramatic gestures and colors. “One falls into these works, into their sophistication and their open-hearted embrace of painting,” writes fellow artist John Bradford. “They beckon you to float lightly along their surface until you are enveloped, finally, in their compelling feeling of longing for some sense of the wholeness we have lost.”

A book illustrating 52 of Younghee’s paintings, along with essays by Mr. Bradford , Mr. Joel Silverstein, and others, has been published in connection with the show and is available at the gallery.

Educated at the Rhode Island School of Design and in Rome, and the recipient of numerous honors, the artist has had 17 previous one-person shows and over 50 group exhibitions in New York and throughout the United States, as well as in France, Italy, Japan, and Korea. She lives and paints in Chelsea.