Elina Choi is a Korean-American artist who recently graduated from the University of California, Berkeley majoring in Art Practice and Art History. She has obtained the Berkeley Certificate in Ceramics. 
​She discovered her passion for oil painting in high school of arts in Korea and continue to study Art Practice in the United States.
Currently, working under the name of Hugo N. Coweins

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​My art is about struggle and sympathy: questions and revolutions, interaction, and conversation. As a female Asian-American, I reinterpret the world I see and feel through my own visual language, empathize with people, and engage in art dialogue. Among social issues, I value my experience because I believe that when it comes from experience can create sincere works. From my own little personal experiences to the issues in today’s complex society is the inspiration for my work. My choice of technique - oil painting, sculpture, and three-dimensional form- has therefore been dictated by pragmatic concerns, and offers a way to work through daily memories experienced and seen, as in a diary. My goal is to move beyond my own story and talk about larger issues, especially contemporary social problems, unjust, and iniquity.