USING LINE AS LANGUAGE, YOON HYUP’S PAINTING PROCESS IS SIMILAR TO THAT OF PLAYING IMPROVISATIONAL MUSIC, WHERE LINE AND DOTS ARE CALLED UPON TO EXPRESS ENERGY WITH FLOW AND RHYTHM.
Could you please briefly introduce your recent exhibition, Quest and how the group of artists came together?
Yoon Hyup: Quest was a group exhibition by Meguru Yamaguchi, Ricardo Gonzalez, Kyne and myself that was held at hpgrp Gallery in Tribeca, New York. The exhibition aimed to showcase the various styles of our expressions, as we are all influenced by urban culture, which is skateboarding, paintings or lettering on the walls and music. It was therefore natural to become connected and brainstorm for this exhibition.
Yoon Hyup, installation view
One quality that comes through in the works of each artist is a strong emphasis given to the characteristic of ‘line’. Could you talk about how the element of line comes into play within your practice? It seems very much like a language.
Yoon: I have always been interested in Korean traditional arts and there are a lot of line elements when you watch the patterns, but I guess that music is actually the biggest reason that I use line as my main language. My mom ran a music school where I lived and I was trained to play musical instruments for 10 years. Naturally, I was exposed to the vibe to express feelings through music, and many creative activities. Later, when I was twenty-three, I got into painting on walls and big canvases. At the same time, I used to paint live in front of people alongside a DJ’s live performance. I learned to express spontaneously and quickly with the flow and rhythm of funk, jazz and hip-hop. Through many errors and experiences, I found line and dots were the perfect way to express my energy of flow and rhythm. Many times, I think my painting process is similar to playing improvisational music, because I paint freehand and I really focus on creating harmony through the use of lines with different colors.
Summer Breeze by Yoon Hyup
Could you introduce what you feel is the most outstanding quality of each of the other three artists’ works? If you had to describe each of their works in just a few words, those words would be…?
Yoon: Meguru’s work is very vibrant, intense and raw. His three-dimensional brushstrokes make you feel some strong impulse to express your energy too. I still remember when I first saw his mural at the Lower East Side. I was surprised by the raw feeling of his work, and also impressed by his sense of controlling the layout. Ricardo is a genius in his ability to express the meaning of words with a strong visual impact. My first impressions of his work were that it was very precise, simple and clean. When you see his unique letters with their intricate forms and various textures and colors, you will feel more feeling than simply reading a word. Kyne’s work is really interesting, when you see his portraits of girls, they remind you of 80’s movie stars, manga characters or female idols. It’s really fresh to see how he reinterprets the pop idol culture by using a minimal choice of colors and his own signature style.
Any similar quality you feel the four artists share? A point of common ground?
Yoon: Our works are vivid, graphical and we have common influences of skateboarding, paintings, lettering on walls and music that bridge us together. But most of all, I think we all have a strong spirit and the sense of an explorer since we left or home countries and moved to NY to pursue our dreams.
What are you working on next? What can we look forward to?
Yoon: I am planning a big mural project within this year as well as another exhibition in NY. I’ve been working hard for these things these days and can’t wait for them!
