Toward the Moonlight by Aira Choi — a snow leopard under K2 and a full moon, as a cover for the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A9

Toward the Moonlight — a guardian, almost at the summit

Toward the Moonlight by Aira Choi — a snow leopard beneath K2 and a full moon, oil on canvas, 2026

A guardian, almost at the summit.

A snow leopard below the summit of K2, under a full moon. A new painting by Aira Choi, on show in Seoul until 14 November — and a cover for the Bang & Olufsen Beosound A9 and Beoplay A9.

Detail of Toward the Moonlight by Aira Choi — the snow leopard with its heart-shaped red nose, among snow-covered saguaro cacti

In her paradise, the leopard meets every traveller.

Aira Choi paints one paradise, traced back to a secret garden her father made for her as a child. Its white leopards have red hearts for noses — where no one needs to fight, she says, even a predator’s face changes.

The way there runs from desert to snow.

K2 photographed by Vittorio Sella in 1909, during the Duke of the Abruzzi’s expeditionK2
8,611 m
Felis uncia, the ounce — a snow leopard drawn by Charles Hamilton Smith, 1837Snow leopard
Tail ≈1 m
A cactus grove in Arizona, saguaro (Cereus giganteus), U.S. Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian, 1871Saguaro
12,000 km from K2
Korean artist Aira Choi in her studio, seated in front of her painting of a black leopard and a snow leopard

“Everyone carries a paradise of their own in their heart.”

Aira Choi

Painter. Born 1986. Metal Art & Design, Hongik University.

Detail of Toward the Moonlight by Aira Choi — the snow on K2, laid on in thin layers with a palette knife

Every step, laid on with a knife.

Oil on canvas, 116.8 × 91 cm, with knives she forges herself.

Bang & Olufsen Beosound A9 cover Toward the Moonlight by Aira Choi — snow leopard, K2 and a full moon

Then the whole climb, in one circle.

At about 70 cm across, the A9 holds almost the whole canvas. Made for every A9 generation.

Toward the Moonlight for the A9

Aira Choi has made this climb for ten years.

Toward the Moonlight by Aira Choi on the wall at Gallery We, Cheongdam, Seoul, in her solo show Inside Paradise, 2026Gallery We, 2026

Inside Paradise낙원의 안쪽

15 October – 14 November 2026Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00–18:30

Gallery We, Cheongdam15-1 Dosan-daero 56-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Inside Paradise at Gallery We

Also this year: Utopia, Blooming into Flowers at MG Gallery, Ulsan; Six Worlds at Space Leehan, Seoul.

From the gallery in Seoul, into your room.

Or bring your own paradise, with Tegrino Designer.

Open Tegrino Designer

Liked this story?

Share it with friends

More from the Journal

Back to blog