Lot 1025: YOO HYUN MI

YOO HYUN MI
(b. 1964)
Great Earth
chromogenic print
95 x 145.6 cm. (37 1/4 x 57 1/4 in.)
edition 1/3
Executed in 2008

Daegu, Korea, Gallery M, Hyun Mi Yoo Still Life, 2008. (different edition exhibited).

Hyun Mi Yoo Still life, exh. cat., Gallery M, Daegu, Korea, 2008 (different edition illustrated, pp. 16-17).

Delicately crafted, Yoo Hyun-Mi's paintings intentionally confuse the viewer through medium as well as content; they are not paintings but photographed paintings of sculpture-installations. As the result of this multi-medium process, Yoo's Great Earth (Lot 1025) is made to challenge the eye and the viewer's perception of reality. First, after molding the various globes from clay, Yoo elaborately paints them, adding her own interpretation of the characteristics of light as well as shadows cast on different surfaces, creating a highly atmospheric setting. Her brushstrokes are textured and unrefined like a swiftly painted oil painting, especially when viewed from a distance; only upon close inspection do we see that the surface is slick and flat, due to the medium of photography. The perspective, lighting, proportions and elaborate details are flawless, the colour palette is sophisticated and the composition, similar to a still life painting is carefully planned.
The mesmerizing beauty, diversity and uniqueness of our earth is expressed through the accumulation of different models of globes, varying in size, color, year of manufacture and, finally, the respective continent that they display. The artist's fascination with this round body whose surface is in every part equidistant from the center and thus represents perfection, corresponds with a romantic and somewhat idealized idea of a unified planet as well as with the mystical and eternal questions that surround our existence.