January 21 – April 10
Ice House Gallery
Opening Reception: Thurs. February 5, from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
Illustrated Lecture: Wilson Hall Auditorium, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
I begin by taking photographs of interiors such as warehouses, storage spaces, junkshops and basements; places where everything is jumbled, disorganized and filled with piles of random stuff. From these photographs I construct a view and then start to draw freehand. I don’t make sketches or project images to make the drawings. Once I put lines on the surface I don’t erase or remove them. If I want to change the drawing I just add more lines on top of the existing ones. These ‘mistakes’ that I make in the process of my drawing appear as double or multiples lines as I apply ‘corrections’. They reflect the accumulation of time, and how my perception has changed and become less clear over time.
Most of the drawing installations are site-specific. I usually visit the site before I start the piece and take measurements of the space where I will install the work. Usually I have vague ideas about how the whole installation will sit in the space, but most of the decisions I make happen during the process of making the piece in the studio.
Most of my drawing installations are also room scale, so I work section by section in my studio and don’t usually get to see the entire drawing until I have finish installing it. The whole piece is attached to the wall with the same black masking tape that I use for the drawing. I give each Mylar sheet a number and make a map of the drawing that shows which number goes where, so installing the whole piece is just like a putting together a really big puzzle.
I am mostly attracted to representing claustrophobic environments and defunct objects. At the beginning, it started as more of a formal interest – I was attracted to these massive piles of things, and the anonymous, decontextualized quality they had. I wanted to make still life drawings that were about perception and mark-making rather than the narrative of the objects themselves. But the more I worked with claustrophobic spaces, I stared to realize that these are the spaces hidden within our lives. We have so many things that we forget about. We struggle for space for ourselves and for the things we own. Now I am interested in these as lost spaces.
My work deals with memory and perception within cluttered spaces. I begin by photographing interiors such as basements, workshops, and storage spaces, places where everything is jumbled and time becomes ambiguous without the presence of people. From these photographs I construct a view and then I draw freehand without erasing. As I correct “mistakes” the work results in double or multiple lines, which reflect how my perception has changed over time and makes me question my initial perception. Paradoxically, greater concentration and more lines make the drawn objects less clear. The more I see, the less I believe in the accuracy or reality of the images I draw.
Artist Website: heeseopyoon.com/