Fantasy, 2012, acrylic on Korean paper (hanji), 97 by 130 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.
Trained in Korean ink wash painting, Yang Yooyun creates atmospheric compositions that convey personal emotional states. Yang’s paintings can have a cinematic quality that suggests their origins in photographs. She often takes photographs of abandoned buildings, domestic interiors, and human figures, using these images as the basis for her compositions. An arm captured at a peculiar distance, a building rendered in shadowy light, or a room depicted at an ambiguous angle: such scenes convey a sense of the isolation and anxiety permeating contemporary life.
Reinterpreting traditional mediums, Yang paints on Korean paper made from mulberry tree bark, a highly absorptive material that enables her to build up layers of diluted acrylic to control the intensity of color. Light is also a central preoccupation for her. She explores various ways to harness the force of light, which can both evoke a sense of relief, while at the same time violently exposing all that has been hidden in the dark.
The Taipei Biennial 2023 features several paintings that draw parallels between cityscapes and the landscape of the mind, foregrounding subtle struggles with the external world and the complexity of relationships with others.
