Cody Choi
Cody Choi is a dance photographer who has exhibited in major cities including London, New York, and Los Angeles. Notable solo exhibitions in London include Ashurst LLP (British multinational law firm) and Olumide Gallery. Cody has participated in The Other Art Fair about twenty times to date since 2013 and recent collective exhibitions include Royal West of England Academy in Bristol, Urban Art Fair in Brixton, York Art Gallery, and Galleria Del Vino in London. He has been published by Timeout London, Evening Standard, Aesthetica magazine and won first place awards with Tiger Photo Competition and a photography competition at The Place Theatre in London.
With a career imbued in dance, Cody is well known internationally as a choreographer, dancer, and model, in addition to being a dance photographer. Using both black and white photography as well as color, he captures his dancers either suspended in mid air against a backdrop of vast negative space or against carefully selected urban environments. His architectural-infused photographs have the dancers integrate their form against the structural contortions of hallways, city gardens, skyscraper interiors, and grand villas. The dancers suspended in the air appear as if they are in flight or interacting in a playful nature with balloons.
Capturing sustained motion, Cody imbues his compositions with dancers who command the surface and structure of his photography. His dancers range in discipline, as indicated by their attire, from urban outfits, formal gowns, and ballet garments. The figures celebrate their surroundings, or lack of, through poses which reflect dynamic poetic jubilee of their own form and their environments. These dancers appear to bend the limits of physicality ranging from stretching their legs above their heads, in perfect horizontal composition against poles, and leaping up and descending down from high suspension in the air. Cody’s strongest pieces tend to be his monochromatic and black and white photographic works as these particular photographs place increased emphasis on motion rather than focus on the surrounding environment.
Dancer in London #4 (pictured above) depicts a figure posing in an urban garden. She wears pointe shoes indicating her pose derives from ballet. The integration of dance with nature and urban environments reflects how the artform correlates to our environments. With a dynamic composition and delicate posture, Dancer in London # 4 remains one of Cody’s visually stunning pieces.
Cody Choi can be described as an artist in tune with integrative methods of combining several genres of art. By capturing the art of dance with figurative aesthetics on photography, he goes beyond just simply isolating the subject matter. His photography appears carefully staged and choreographed like an elaborate theatre production, reflecting a nuanced and refined approach to depicting the ancient artform of dance with the relatively new art of photography. With a variety of backdrop concepts and well-executed postures, Cody Choi releases the essence of sophisticated dance through black and white, monochromatic, and color photography.
