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Yoo Joung-Hye |
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#215-202Hyundai
Apt, Gueui-dong,Gwangjin-gu, 82 2 447
0118 (H) 82 11 774 7767( Recent Works 10th
Solo exhibitions ( MANIF' 98 at the
1999/2001
Invitational Exhibition ( 2000
¡°ITAMI" International Craft Exhibition, ( 2002
International Tapestry Art Biennale ( 2002/2004
"From 2003
International Contemporary Textile Art Exhibition (Daegu,Korea)Arts Center 2004
Surging from Far East Surging (National Gallery BiH Sarajevo) 2004
International Textile Art Doucument in EXCO ( 2005 Dawn Light
Sympsoium ( 2006 Nine Dragon
Heads DMZ & JSA 2007 Meeting
Downhill ( Den Haag, ¡°The flowers of difference¡±, reflected
in the mirror of Eros Dong-kwang Chang (Independent Curator, Adjunct
Professor of Sookmyung Women¡¯s University) 1. Fragmentary thoughts about the mirror unexpectedly
recurred to my mind The mirror is
the eternal room of existence. It is a space conferred by the light that
reflects one¡¯s being. Within darkness the object can not be reflected in the
mirror. It is the very existence of light that enables us to discover ourselves
and clearly defines not only who we are but everything else that surrounds us.
It shows how we look like and differentiate us from the others. But the mirror
always reflects the right side and left side inversely. It is the inevitable
result of confrontation. This explains why whenever we see ourselves and other
objects in the mirror we have to transpose them so that we can perceive them
just as they are. The transposition between right and left to grasp reality is
accompanied by abstract thought and illusion. As a matter of fact, the form
that is reflected in the mirror that seems to be genuinely real is not so. This kind of
phenomenon can be seen when the photographer attempts to take a picture of a
certain object. It can also be seen in the printing of a photography. The
subject caught by the lens of the camera is the result of the transposition of
the right and left. This inevitable contradiction of cause and effect
eventually recalls to my mind the philosophy of art that maintains that
everything we think is real is nothing but the shadow of a phantasmagoric
vision. I first met artist Yoo Joung-hye when I was a curator and since she has
been a kind of ¡®mirror¡¯ to me. Her left side has always been my right side and
I never expressed any doubts about such difference. And at times when we both
walked side by side I even thought for a moment that my right and left side
coincided with hers but that was because I only saw a part of herself and not
her whole existence. If I wanted to convert my right and left side into her
right and left I would have no other way but to get into her body and merge
into one with her. The unexplainable question about the inverted position of
the object symbolizes the imperfection of our sense of perception when
observing a work of art. This dilemma has always haunted my mind. Fortunately,
sculptors and painters do not need to be as conscious of the right and left
side as photographers do when observing an object. The fact that both the
artist and the viewer are seeing things from the same perspective is of great
significance in the process of emotional empathy. 2. In the Atelier, The flowers of sexuality bloom a three-dimensional space As a fiber artist Yoo Joung-hye has always
dealt with the theme of love in her works. Since 1984, when she opened her
first solo exhibition, there have been big and small changes in her artistic
ideals and thoughts but these variations are comparable to the cycle of a tree
that changes its clothes as a new season arrives. If an artist sings life
through a visual chord, the trace of Yoo¡¯s works symbolize the extremely
difficult search for the meaning of ¡®love¡¯. This process is like the water
running down the valley that flows towards the big ocean and the voyage of the
disciplinant that goes in search of the highest state of enlightenment. From
the point of view of the writer, the works displayed in this solo exhibition
are the ones that are most closely related to the artworks of her 2nd solo
exhibition in 1988. Under the title ¡®The Actions and Forms of Love¡¯she created
her works using cotton yarn, hemp thread and abaca thread using the weaving
technique. The form of these pieces of work resembled an oval cut in the
middle. Red was the dominant color of her creations but colors like yellow,
green and the light brown shade of the abaca thread diffused a gradation effect
in her weave works. The most eye-catching features of these artworks were the
way threads were arranged bringing up the image of real hair and the irregular
and spontaneous composition of threads on a three- dimensional cloth suggesting
the sexual organs of a woman. In fact, the female sexual organs symbolize the
conception of life, the essence of motherhood and the gate of Eros that merge
man and woman into one. Of course, no
one can deny that the ultimate ideal of love involves not only physical contact
but a psychological bond known as spiritual response. The search for the ideal
model of love through the union of the spirit and body has been of universal
consent in all times and places. There is a term in psychology known as Oedipus
complex that refers to a kind of sexual obsession towards one¡¯s mother. Man by
instinct has the desire to satisfy his sexual wants and lack of love. That
explains the endless adoration and burning desire to find a sensual object to
maximize this sexual satisfaction. Sigmund Freud defined such need as Libido.
Libido, the energy of sexual instinct, is the root that stimulates sexual love
between man and woman. The form of the Libido represented in Yoo Joung-hye¡¯s
¡®Actions and Forms of Love?suggests a visual ecstasy that is strong enough to
bring up the image of sexuality. ¡®Erotical Flower¡¯ displayed in this exhibition
are variant forms that suggest a new visual wave. If the works exhibited in
¡®Actions and Forms of Love¡¯ were about 2 meters long and made of weave, ¡®Erotical
Flowers¡¯ are much smaller in scale, about 20-30 centimeters, and they are a
combination of weaving technique and industrial materials. At first glance,
each unit occupies a
three-dimensional space and they are all gathered together and arranged in a
variable form creating a kind of stock. The colors of ¡®Erotical Flower¡¯
harmonize with one and other and create a spectrum that resembles a dance in
groups. 3. From the approaching-a As you all may
know, in the book <The Myth of Greece and ¡®Flowers of
Difference¡¯ that suggest erotism and symbolize sexuality. The association with
other elements generates difference and dissimilarity within her works and so
we are induced to
convert the psychological insight of the libido into artistic thinking. Yoo
Joung-hye has not hesitated even for a moment to experiment a new form in her
works. Besides, the artist attempted to express the subjects of ¡®Love¡¯ and
¡®Life¡¯ just as they are, from a pure and genuine perspective, based on the
conception of basic instincts. Yoo selected a wide variety of materials such as
plastic tubes used in films of electric wires and enamel wires of network
cables assembling them together with the forms she attempted to create. Rather
than focusing on how the work will be seen from the viewer¡¯s perspective we can
grasp a strong desire in Yoo to create the form she really wants and transfer
all her sensitivity into the space. The
industrial materials are the result of the technical reproduction era we
live in, they are the hair of the ground, and as transmitters of energy all
these materials, conveyed more effectively the purpose of the artist. The
metaphoric forms that transmit sexuality and erotism in this solo exhibition
are presented to us as the most genuine form of Libido, which is the basic
instinct that originates within man¡¯s desire. In short, the various colors of
the flowers of Eros and the units that create new forms and differences are the
very expression of man¡¯s true self. In the same way the mirror reflects the
inverted image of me. A reality that is not reality. A visual fantasy inside
the mirror.
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