Haeri Yoo
dal 14/11/2012 al 11/1/2013
Segnalato da
14/11/2012
Haeri Yoo
Thomas Erben Gallery, New York
Running Pit. Channeling opposing impulses such as narration and abstraction, delight and darkness the artist establishes an animated visuality, enhanced by her use of intense colors that oscillate between jarringly sweet and polluted.
Thomas Erben is excited to present a third solo show by New York based painter Haeri
Yoo (b. 1970, Korea). Over the years, Yoo has developed her work around a tangle of
dichotomies, with conflicting forces constantly struggling to form a precarious
state of balance. Channeling opposing impulses such as narration and abstraction,
delight and darkness, or wonder and violence, the artist establishes an animated
visuality, enhanced by her use of intense colors that oscillate between jarringly
sweet and polluted.
Another aspect central to Yoo’s work is the dynamic between spontaneity and control.
The influence of calligraphy from her Korean background is present in the use of
swift brush strokes, which lets the medium of painting itself dictate the visual
conditions for each piece. This intuitive element is tempered with the artist’s
intent, balancing energy flow with restraint.
Yoo has described her paintings as psychological landscapes, depicting the darker
areas of the human experience such as vulnerability, cruelty and sexual subjugation.
Initially, this was represented through distinctly figurative, carnal imagery,
whereas in her second show she moved further into abstraction, fracturing the space
of each painting into complex structures and chopping up the body almost beyond
recognition.
In her new series, the brush stroke is given a stronger influence and abstract space
is simplified, with a boldness that does not sacrifice complexity. Where Yoo
previously mutated reality into something resembling a Rorschach test for the darker
sides of human behavior, her current work opens up toward the reality of painting
itself. By emphasizing the painted surface of each piece rather than lingering in
her own landscapes, she paradoxically merges her own world with the one we inhabit.
Haeri Yoo received her BFA from Kyungbook National University, Korea (1992) and her
MFA from the Pratt Institute, NY (1997). She first appeared at this gallery in 2006,
with two subsequent solo shows in 2008 and 2010. This past summer, her work was
included in Korean Eye, Saatchi Gallery, London, where it will also be part of
Painters’ Painters (forthcoming).
She has exhibited at numerous venues, such as
Korean Art Show, NY (2012); Five Miles, NY (curator Lilly Wei, 2011); the Chelsea
Art Museum, NY (2010); Monica de Cardenas Gallery, Milan, Kresge Art Museum, MI, and
the Seoul Art Center (all 2009); House of Campari, NY (curator Simon Watson), Smith
College Museum of Art, MA (both 2008); and Queens Museum of Art (2004). Yoo’s work
has been discussed in the New York Times, Whitewall Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail,
TimeOut Mumbai and Artillery Magazine. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 15, 6 - 8:30 pm
Thomas Erben Gallery
516 West 20th Street, New York
Gallery hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm
Free Admission