Yi Gallery

“Her works often speak in inversions and her process conveys meticulous acts of time and attention – hundreds of strands of the artist’s hair individually stitched on paper and photograph, incense burned through long scrolls of mulberry paper tracing handwritten script, hundreds of paper cubes and sewing needles suspended from the air with cotton thread. But encountering Kang’s solo exhibition Memories, Veiled on opening night at Yi Gallery, I felt a perceptible shift in approach. Breaking away from intricate patterns and tightly constructed repetitions, her newest work is marked by a haunting austerity that invites viewers to dwell between restraint and release, a thin place between dreamscape and the waking world.

This will be the first work Sun Young is sharing with the world since her mother in Korea passed away during the pandemic after a years-long period of suffering from Alzheimer’s. She speaks of the feeling of having nothing to hold on to: “My hometown is no longer home without my mother residing there,” her show description reads. “I searched hard but found no traces of her anymore. However, my mother still exists in my dreams, in a world of her own. In my subconscious, I reach out, but reality disrupts the connection.”

Kang conceived her newest project during an artist residency at Yaddo last winter where she found other artists also grappling with grief in their work. Artist Anne Truitt’s journal describes the 19th-century estate in upstate New York as “a place charged with divine force. I always feel it when I enter between the granite gates…a curious heightening of perception.” Memories, Veiled begins from this place: energetic imprints of the Yaddo mansion recorded in photographs overlaid with translucent fabric, hung between sheer curtains suspended from ceiling to floor for viewers to move through before revealing the next photograph.”

— excerpt from exhibition review by Susan Moon

Memories, Veiled VII, 2024
Inkjet print on fine art paper, organza, wood frame
8 x 23 x 1 1/2 in 20.3 x 58.4 x 3.8 cm

Sun Young Kang’s solo exhibition 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘝𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 is on view for the final days, through this Friday, July 12.

Installation views:
Sun Young Kang
Library, 2024
Inkjet print on fine art paper, mounted on wood board
12 x 8 x 1 in
30.5 x 20.3 x 2.5 cm
Edition of 2 plus 1 artist’s proof

Kang’s solo exhibition 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘝𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 has been extended to July 12 🤍 Gallery hours are Thursday - Saturday 12 - 6pm. Also open by appointment on other days. Please let me know if you’d like to see the show outside these hours.

YI GALLERY, Industry City, Bldg 2
254 36th Street, FL 6R, Suite B634, Brooklyn, NY 11232

In Memories, Veiled (2024), Kang covers and wraps a series of photographs with semi-translucent fabric. The photograph, as a medium, serves as a bridge for visual interactions. The images were originally captured through the artist’s eyes and are now perceived by the audience through their own eyes. The Yaddo mansion, a recurring motif in every photograph, represents both the private and the public, inviting yet isolating. Laden with a history of grief and loss, it carries the weight of memories and the longing for connection. It serves as a visual anchor, encompassing not only the physical space but also the layers of emotions and narratives intertwined within it.

The deliberate gesture of overlaying photos with organza fabric obstructs visual perception, encapsulating the emotional weight that permeates the space. The visualization of the unapproachable realm of time and space creates a sense of distance and mystery. Viewers are invited to experience the frustration, uncertainty, and inaccessibility depicted in the work. Kang seeks to evoke a shared sense of longing and the desire to find answers. The lack of clear vision invites contemplation of themes such as isolation, uncertainty, and the struggle to understand and be understood.

Sun Young Kang’s solo exhibition 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘝𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 is on view through June 29.

🕐Thu - Sat 12 - 6pm + other days by appt

YI GALLERY, Industry City, Bldg 2
254 36th Street, FL 6R, Suite B634, Brooklyn, NY 11232

Installation views:

Sun Young Kang
Memories, Veiled VIII, 2024
Inkjet print on fine art paper, organza, wood frame
23 x 12 x 1 1/2 in. 58.4 x 30.5 x 3.8 cm