Yang Holds 1st Solo US Exhibition
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
Yang Haegue, one of the fast rising Korean artists in the international scene, is once again attracting attention for her first solo U.S. museum exhibition ``Haegue Yang: Integrity of the Insider'' at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
She is presenting her photographs, paper works, videos, sculptures, slide projections and installations at the exhibition.
Yang, who was the first female artist representing Korea at the Venice Biennale last summer, is primarily known for her abstract works.
``Abstraction is the language I choose to give true value to the presence of narrative inside of me as well as the narratives I have encountered and realized as relatives, which exist outside of me,'' Yang said, in a press statement.
``I think what fundamentally lies beneath these narratives can be shared without being told as a story. For me abstraction is not anti-narrative, it is not a language that attempts to negate narration but rather allows a narrative to be achieved without constituting its own limits. The form of language I choose to experiment with is abstract even if the motivation is always concrete.''
Doryun Chung, exhibition curator, said Yang creates ``carefully orchestrated and nuanced installations that operate as a microcosm of sensory experience.''
``These works result from Yang's ongoing engagement with certain historical figures of interest ― people whose life narratives are characterized by a political commitment shared with others, coupled with personal failings or tragedies.''
In the exhibition's main work ``Yearning Melancholy Red,'' Yang explores the life of the late French writer and filmmaker Marguerite Duras, who is best known for her autobiographical novel ``L'Amant'' (The Lover).
The installation is composed of venetian blinds suspended from the ceiling and arranged in interconnecting forms around mirrors, heat lamps, fans, theater lights and a drum kit.
While there are no specific references to Duras in the work, Chung says that through geometry, light and sound ``Yang's practice translates the landscape of her own emotional and intellectual life into a democratic space of experience.''
Also included at the exhibition are smaller works, such as the ``Gymnastics of the Foldables,'' ``Dehors'' and ``Hippe Dippie Oxnard.''
Yang says that while the titles of her works are mostly descriptive, her exhibition titles are often controversial, such as ``Integrity of the Insider.''
``I was interested in how the title could create an introductory moment of skepticism, one that could only be resolved through the experience of my exhibition. `Integrity of the Insider' came to my mind out of my constant interest in the location of the self, subjectivity and community. I have been interested in questioning how we might be able to create a non-excluding frame to accommodate ideas, existence and emotions without loss,'' she said.
Yang is currently an artist-in-residence at the Walker to take part in the experimental project ``Shared Discovery of What We Have and Know Already.'' In the project comprised of seminars and workshops, Yang will be both teacher and student as she tells others about the wide range of subjects that have influenced her work.
Born in Seoul in 1971, Yang divides her time between her hometown and Berlin. She gained attention in 2006 for two solo exhibitions: ``Sadong 30'' in a dilapidated house in Incheon and ``Unevenly'' at BAK in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Yang made her debut in the U.S. when her installation ``Series of Vulnerable Arrangements ― Blind Room'' was featured in the group exhibition ``Brave New Worlds'' at the Walker Art Center in 2007.
The exhibition at the Walker Art Center runs through Feb. 28. Visit www.walkerart.org.