Rago Auctions

World-renowned metalsmith Chunghi Choo, although an extremely versatile artist with significant work in textiles and jewelry, is best known for creating innovative metal artworks using such pioneering techniques as electroforming and electro-applique. Choo’s lyrical objects are technically and visually compelling, organic, and graceful. “I like my hollowware pieces to be used and add pleasure to daily life through heightened sensuousness and a feeling of celebration”, she says.

Born in Korea, Choo’s studies in the philosophy of Oriental art and calligraphy continue to inform her work.  She believes, for example, that the sweeping movements of the calligraphy brush have helped give her work a flowing line of energy. She is Professor Emeritus of the University of Iowa, where she established an internationally prominent metals program, with many of her students going on to achieve critical acclaim as artists in their own right. 

Her work can be found in the permanent collections of the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Art and Design in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Musee des Arts decoratifs, Paris and the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Rago is pleased to include The Smithsonian Women’s Committee Visionary Benefit Auction within our Modern Design sale on May 12th. This special section features works created by past and present Smithsonian Visionary Artists and by the winners of the new Smithsonian Women’s Committee Delphi Award.

The Smithsonian Visionary Award, established in 2014, is presented annually to artists who are deemed by curators in the field to have risen to the pinnacle in the world of sculptural arts and design, who have works in major museums, and who have demonstrated distinction, creativity, artistry, and, of course, vision in his or her respective medium.  

Chunghi Choo and Mary Lee Hu, 2023 recipients of the Smithsonian Visionary Award, join the small but prestigious list of past recipients: David Ellsworth, Michael Hurwitz, Patti Warashina, Joyce J. Scott, Faith Ringgold, Dale Chihuly, Toots Zynsky, Wendell Castle, and Albert Paley.

Amber Cowan is the 2023 Delphi Artist. She joins past recipients Stephen Young Lee and Roberto Lugo in this exclusive  list of artists who are the recipients of this important award.

All lots in the Visionary Benefit Auction are of the primary market, unless otherwise indicated. The auction raises funds to support projects and initiatives across the Smithsonian institution. All works will be shipped directly from the artist or the gallery.