Choi Gene Uk was born in Seoul and earned his BFA in Painting from Seoul National University in 1981, followed by an MFA in Painting from The George Washington University in 1984. Since returning to Korea, he has worked primarily in painting, exploring the sensory relationship between the individual and the world through close observation of everyday scenes and social realities. By reconfiguring photographs, records, and remembered moments into painterly compositions, he has continually renewed his own form of realism grounded in contemporary historical and social experience. After serving as a professor in the Department of Western Painting at Chugye University for the Arts, where he balanced teaching and artistic practice, he has since retired and continues his work as an artist with a primary focus on painting.