After notable presentations at Blum and Poe, Almine Rech Gallery, Paul Kasmin Gallery, the Hort Family Collection, and recent participation in group shows in London and Hong Kong, Hiejin Yoo is wrapping up 2020 and kicking off 2021 with her second solo show at Half Gallery. Where I Want To Be comprises a new series of paintings by German-born, Los Angeles-based artist, exploring and celebrating home life and everyday traditions.
While the concept of the work evokes the very feelings many of us have felt in 2020, Where I Want To Be is a continuation of Yoo's ongoing series of paintings that act as snapshots of everyday life. Often referring to her Korean upbringing, years spent studying in Chicago and her current life in LA, Yoo is using such observations to define her relationships and emotional condition; a tool for self-discovery. In a year where so many moments in lockdown are seen as frustrating or even suffocating, are captured and portrayed as comforting and almost magical. First recorded in her diary as drawings, they transform into intimate, semi-figurative vignettes of the artist's personal life, as well as universally discernible allegories for the feelings of closeness, longing and belonging.
Almost exclusively shown from her own point of view, depicting herself only as a transparent silhouette marked with the bold, white outline only, Yoo is shifting the focus to underlying emotions rather than the physical qualities of the moment or memory. Using warm, natural colors, the realistically rendered blue skies, yellow fields, orange citruses, or fabric patterns, add to the plausibility of the picture, while further accenting the physical irrelevance of the human subject. As if capturing the emotive condition through an imaginary e-ray machine, the surreal visuals are featuring just enough elements to convey the sentiment without giving out any info about the narrative around it. —Sasha Bogojev
