I Have Lived a Nomadic Life
I have lived a nomadic life.
I was born and raised in Korea, lived in Spain, and am currently living in the United States. And on September 10th, I will be leaving for an exhibition in Shanghai, China. My life has taken me from the far east to the far west, through Spain and Europe, and now to the United States.
Looking back, it was a long journey, but it feels like it passed in a brief moment. The many experiences I shared with my family are layered like colors on my canvas.
Everything that happened in those moments, under those circumstances, naturally absorbed into my work, and the patterns and forms created through the exchange of East and West are reflected in my art. About 50 of my works will be exhibited at the Liu Haisu Museum in Shanghai in
September.
In a region with a long history and culture, a space of profound depth and breadth, a world of contemplation, how will my works be received, and what meaning will they hold?
I hope that they will make some contribution and serve as another opportunity and motivation for me…
A painter speaks through their work and paintings. My paintings can be described as a visual language, a language of form. Nevertheless, because painting is limited by time and space, it inevitably leads to metaphor or implication rather than a lengthy narrative. When I begin a work, I don't start with a specific motif, a clear theme, or a detailed plan, but rather from a vague anticipation or sometimes from a sense of uncertainty…
During the process of creation, meaning emerges and is refined, and a kind of consensus is reached. This is likely an attempt to avoid rigidification and to synthesize all my thoughts, sometimes even unconscious ones, and all the conditions I face at each moment, while they are still fresh.
I believe it is a culmination of the natural flow that occurs in my encounter with the world.
Therefore, it may be a mixture of figurative and non-figurative elements, and images may be overlapping or suggestive.
This is to free myself from excessive subjectivism and preconceived notions, and to avoid being swept away by rapid changes and established trends, but rather to explore even the most intimate interactions between myself and the realities of my
circumstances.
In today's world, which is rapidly changing and becoming unified, are there still, or will there forever be, differences between East and West? Or are there relative values? If so, can there be a point of convergence between them? Perhaps this can be found in the culmination of culture and art.
I hope that this exhibition of mine will also focus on this.
August 2013
From my studio… Kyungyoul Yoon