Exponential Encounter: Hyangro and Yogyakarta

‘Drive to the Moon and Galaxy’ at Gajah Gallery
By Duls Rambawa

Introducing our ‘Excerpts’ series! Over the years, we have republished parts of long-form writing, from catalogue essays to book chapters. This practice will now be formalised in a monthly column. We will continue to be on the lookout for content to share. If you may like to send us texts to consider, please email info@artandmarket.net.

Hyangroo Yoon, ‘Flag’, 2022, video from real-time data, 182 x 82cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

In Indonesia, the general public’s knowledge of Korean culture—although broadly understood in several aspects given the rising influence of South Korean popular culture locally—is often disjointed, almost superficial and perhaps, even trivial. Within the realm of fine art, well-known figures such as Nam June Paik, the Dansaekhwa artists, Lee Bul, Haegue Yang, and Do Ho Suh have received wide recognition in academia and on the international market. However, the discourses presented by these artists are frequently assumed to be far from the daily polemics of Indonesian and thus, rarely referred to by local young artists in their practices. But, are they really that removed from us? Or, is there a possibility where the artistic practices of both regions can converge along similar lines of sentiments and sensibilities, giving rise to visual expression and encounters that resonate with each other?

Hyangroo Yoon, ‘Drive to the Moon and Galaxy 1-2’, 2022, Epson UltraChrome inkjet, acrylic, oil, on canvas, 182 x 82cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

‘Drive to the Moon and Galaxy’ is South Korean artist Hyangro Yoon’s first Southeast Asian solo exhibition. This August at Gajah Gallery Yogyakarta, she will present three bodies of work: the ‘Screenshot’ series, the ‘Tagging’ series, and the titular series, ‘Drive to the Moon and Galaxy’. The title of the exhibition itself is deceptive, giving the impression that the show might be about retrofuturism or primarily features technology-based multimedia artwork. Yet, surprisingly, when I spoke with the artist in preparation for her exhibition, she remarked that actually, 95% of her work was two-dimensional and on canvas, with the exception of a single video work and a wall-mounted tapestry.

Hyangroo Yoon, ‘Screenshot 7.99.38’, 2016, carpet of BCF nylon, polypropylene, polyester, 171 x 297cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

All of the three series of works that will be presented share the same theme: the interrogation of images and representations, especially those displayed on digital screens. The title of the ‘Screenshot’ series, for instance, is straightforward and explains–quite literally–the process of abstraction chosen by the artist. Images from popular media, like frames of flashing lights taken from clichéd “changing costumes” scenes in the “magical girl” anime trope, are screenshotted and then, digitally enlarged until it breaks in resolution. Afterwards, the image is filled in with Photoshop’s ‘Content Aware Tool’ to restore its quality, making it full and smooth again. This iconoclastic process is continuously repeated to the point of abstraction which by then, the artist will repaint the image on canvas or transform it into a large carpet.

“All of the three series of works that will be presented share the same theme: the interrogation of images and representations, especially those displayed on digital screens.”

Meanwhile, the ‘Tagging’ series explores both the action and the medium of a tag-inscribing one’s name on inanimate objects–namely through spray paint. Like the ‘Screenshot’ series, the image goes through a process of destruction through enlargement and cropping. As a result, these tags are no longer recognisable as a person’s name or signature but rather, become scattered, overlaid paint particles which she sometimes adds on top of ready-made manuscripts. The unpredictable airborne properties of spray paint make total precision impossible, thereby forcing–through the medium—for distortion of the image to further occur.

Finally, the ‘Drive to the Moon and Galaxy’ series, which incorporates exploratory abstractions from both the preceding series, makes its Southeast Asian debut through this exhibition. Using inkjet printing technology as a backdrop, the broken digital image is enlarged, to form a colour gradation that resembles the night sky. Previously applied in the ‘Tagging’ series, the splashes and sprays of paint now suggest the expanses of stars across the galaxy. Apart from destroying the image beyond recognition, this series also forces a shift in meaning–what used to be the original image in the background is now no longer representative of anything but the night sky.

This is an excerpt of Duls Rambawa’s essay, published on the occasion of Hyangro Yoon’s debut Southeast Asian solo show ‘Drive to the Moon and Galaxy’. The exhibition is on view from 25 August to 10 September 2023 at Gajah Gallery, Yogyakarta. 
To read other writings from the Excerpts series, click here.