Stephen Friedman Gallery is delighted to present South Korean artist Yooyun Yang’s first solo exhibition in Europe. Yang’s atmospheric and enigmatic paintings are cloaked in darkness and explore the emotional states of people; with scenes conveying existential thoughts and feelings of solitude. Yang frequently conceals faces and subtly captures intimate moments. By using shadow and composition to create distance between the viewer and the subject, the artist articulates a sense of isolation in what she describes as this 'age of anxiety'. Objects are fundamental to Yang’s practice, with motifs of blinds, curtains and railings frequently appearing. By repositioning them through...
Stephen Friedman Gallery is delighted to present South Korean artist Yooyun Yang’s first solo exhibition in Europe.
Yang’s atmospheric and enigmatic paintings are cloaked in darkness and explore the emotional states of people; with scenes conveying existential thoughts and feelings of solitude. Yang frequently conceals faces and subtly captures intimate moments. By using shadow and composition to create distance between the viewer and the subject, the artist articulates a sense of isolation in what she describes as this "age of anxiety".
Objects are fundamental to Yang’s practice, with motifs of blinds, curtains and railings frequently appearing. By repositioning them through her otherworldly gaze, objects appear increasingly foreign.
Yang’s practice is emotionally charged and simultaneously calm. Through a careful treatment of light, her paintings are contemplative: lurking in between the real and the imagined. A hazy, cinematic quality pervades the work and suggests the paintings’ photographic origins. The artist takes her own photographs and from them maps out her compositions. Yang’s snapshot style reveals overlooked details such as marks and folds on the skin and creases in fabric.
The artist paints on Hanji paper, traditional Korean handmade paper made from mulberry tree bark. Yang builds up layers of diluted acrylic to control the intensity of the colour. Speaking of her paintings, Yang said "I want my works to be like a thorn in your mind that pricks from time to time, or like a very gentle fever."
