Usquam Nusquam2018, 162,2 × 130,3 cm
Je Yeoran born 1960, in Seoul, South Korea. Lives and works in Uiwang, South Korea

Je Yeoran is an iconic Korean abstract artist who has practiced performing arts on canvas with the use of squeegee instead of the more traditional paintbrush for over 30 years. Concentrating the energy of her entire body movement into the squeegee, Je completes each work through the repetition of turning and halting on canvas. Traces of the artist’s movements form a unique matière of abstract art, and the curvatures and colors on canvas entwine to emerge as a new image to each viewer’s perspective.

Je Yeoran’s paintings are represented by antagonism and dynamism. The dichotomies emphasized between ascent and descent, expansion and contraction, brightness and darkness, and anger and ecstasy clash and convey their dynamic nature, at the same time balancing one another to ultimately bring calmness or a peaceful state of mind. Such interaction reflects the meaning behind the title, Usquam Nusquam and represent Je’s understanding of the power of visual art as everything and nothing at the same time.

Although Je juxtaposes contrasting values in her work, her use of colors goes beyond the dialectic approach and instead suggest a new way of looking. Theoretically dark blue-black colors and bright red-pink colors are contrary to one another. However, Je’s use of colors must not be limited to such dichotomization but instead be understood in the entire context of the painting–immediately after casting herself into the energy of dark colors, it is only natural for her work to follow the opposite line of emotions.




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