Yooyun Yang participates in 'The figurative is not the exception but the rule'
Yooyun Yang showcases three acrylic paintings on handmade Korean paper in the group show The figurative is not the exception but the rule at HITE Collection in Seoul.
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. In one of the artist's exhibited works, Gap and In Between, the subject’s closely cropped face is split in two by the diptych format. Their eyes face the viewer, confronting their gaze. Yang frequently uses shadow and composition to partially conceal faces in her work, articulating the sense of isolation felt in what she describes as ‘this age of anxiety’.
The artist paints on Jangji paper, traditional Korean handmade paper made from mulberry tree bark. Yang builds up layers of diluted acrylic to control the intensity of the colour; the light and shadow here creating a grainy quality, alluding to Yang’s interest in photography. 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.’
