Solo Exhibition Hidden in Plain Sight
Oh Art Foundation
1029 W 35th St
Chicago, IL 60609
Hidden in Plain Sight will display JooYeon Judy Yang’s ongoing “One Nation Banknote” series. Yang’s intricate collages - composed entirely of various currency - dissect commonplace iconography and challenge viewers to question the status quo. With richly nuanced layers and allegorical titles, Yang weaves mythical narratives and dreamlike landscapes. The meticulous construction alludes to labor and the passage of time. The artist refuses to be restricted by the seemingly flat terrain of paper money; each piece challenges the borders of the traditional frame to create immeasurable depths. Though the imagery initially appears fictitious, every piece directs attention back towards the viewer and the interconnected - and sometimes harrowing - nature of our shared reality. Yang’s dual East-West identity allows her to eloquently create spaces where utopia and apocalypse melt together - where idealistic nationalism loses its form in lieu of collective chaos. And perhaps the complexity of her series lends itself to a distinctive nature; it allows for multiplicities of interpretations where each viewer chooses where to place weight in her endlessly intricate and symbolic narratives - and, in the process, falls into the scene itself. JooYeon Judy Yang (b. 1982, Republic of Korea) is a New York-based artist whose work circulates concepts of societal phenomena. Yang received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute in 2005, later obtaining her MFA in painting from Pratt Institute in 2012. She has exhibited her work widely in New York, including a solo show at Whitebox Art Center in New York City. Her work has also been included in exhibitions in Santa Monica, CA and Richmond, VA and abroad in Leece, Italy.
Hidden in Plain Sight was on view from September 20th to October 10th, 2019.
