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Edibles – NTUC Finest, OH’ FARMS, Thyme, each 50 g
STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery
Edibles – NTUC Finest, OH’ FARMS, Thyme, each 50 g
About Artwork
During her first residency with STPI, Yang was intrigued by the wide variety of local spices and vegetables, which she then incorporated into her print and paper works to evoke the senses of smell, sight, and touch; heightening the physical and sensorial characteristics of these everyday materials
In her latest series at STPI, Edibles, Yang continues to explore the residual possibilities of vegetables. Choosing solely to work with salad leaves, each print is an impression of vegetables from a single packet, purchased from either a local grocery store or wet market stall. Yang sensitively records the various details of the vegetables and their respective forms of packaging, and utilises them in subtle yet creative ways that affect the final appearance of the prints.
The grammage of each packet informs the centimetre dimensions of the paper that the artist uses, and the differences between grocery store and wet market displays and browsing experiences also feed into distinct qualities of each vegetable leaf, and resultantly, each print. Even within the range of brands offered in a single store, variations in leaf colour and texture are also visible.
Surfacing as an undercurrent in the series is the idea of value systems, where correlations of freshness and cost, sealed and exposed, processed and organic serve to inform the mode of ornamentation that Yang employs towards the mesmerising compositions on paper.
Artist Profile
Berlin-based sculptor and installation artist Haegue Yang (b. 1971, Seoul) combines both organic and industrially manufactured materials, staging multisensory environments with light, scent, and mundane objects. Her interest in history, literature, as well as political realities continues to shape her language of culture. Through her varying mediums, Yang challenged classical perceptions of visual art through hidden narratives, which were further developed in the realms of print and paper at STPI. Combining the tactile and the olfactory, Yang explored print by incorporating local spices and vegetables in her techniques. This evoked the senses of smell, sight, and touch; heightening the physical and sensorial characteristics of these everyday materials.
This collaboration has produced works such as Spice Moon Cycle (2015), Spice Moons (2013), and Spice Sheets (2012); which were shown in STPI under the title, Haegue Yang: Honesty Printed on Modesty (2013). The works were also added to the collections of the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and UBS Art Collection, Zurich, respectively. A selection of her recent notable exhibitions includes Strange Attractors, Tate St Ives, St Ives (2020); The Cone of Concern, MCAD Manila, Manila (2020); When The Year 2000 Comes, Kukje Gallery, Seoul (2019); Lingering Nous, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016); The Malady of Death: Écrire and Lire, Hong Kong (2015); Shooting the Elephant 象 Thinking the Elephant, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2015); Family of Equivocations, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Strasbourg (2013); Accomodating the Epic Dispersion, Haus der Kunst, Munich (2012); Arrivals, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2011); and Voice and Wind, New Museum, New York (2010). Furthermore, her work has been included in the Biennale de Lyon (2015); Sharjah Biennial (2015); Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (2015); West China Art Biennale (2012); dOCUMENTA Kassel (2012); Gwangju Biennale (2010); Venice Biennale (2009); Guangzhou Triennial (2008); and PRAGUEBIENNALE3 (2007).
Artist:
Haegue Yang
Medium:
Vegetable pressed on paper, framed
Size:
68.5 x 119 x 4.5 cm
Year:
2019