In Haein Choi’s landscapes, we don’t see a literal extension of the world but rather foregrounds dipped in darker light and a light-filled, undefined background or horizon. The middle ground includes hints of houses or trees, but they lack volume and depth, appearing as thin, diaphanous layers of painted color rather than solid, tangible forms. Things are never presented to us directly; we face them through a lens of our own making—a fictional, ideal image we impose on reality. Choi’s paintings reveal something of this wonder about ourselves and our sensory experiences, moving between objectivity and subjectivity. While her works reference real things, they are only truly understood through her distinct way of seeing. In this way, Choi’s paintings contrast starkly with photographic realism. Rather than meticulously recreating every detail, Choi’s world is crafted from her subjective choices, with each element given importance based on her own emotional authenticity. Her art seeks the "formative correctness" of personal feeling, expressing painterly values over realism and aiming to create a world rooted in the authenticity of her own emotional experience.