Exhibition Information

Usquam Nusquam
2016 Oil on canvas 259 x 194 cm

Usquam Nusquam Series
2017 Oil on canvas 162.2 x 130.3 cm

2018

2018

			“The lines and colors leak beyond the structural boundary of the canvas at a certain point. Forms are instantly created, fusing with one another from every perspective. Lines are given their own standing, liberated from the principle of representation. Abiding by strict rules or intent is of no importance in my works. Rather, I carry on with each work with the formal language and painterly gesture of automatism.”   – Je Yeoran
313 Art Project is pleased to present <Usquam Nusquam>, a solo exhibition by Je Yeoran. Comprised of Je’s iconic painting series Usquam Nusquam in various dimensions, the exhibition offers a comprehensive view of the oeuvre Je has established throughout her career spanning thirty years.
Je Yeoran’ unique practice of performative painting involving the movements of the entire body has led the artist to develop her own signature style that transcends the category of conventional abstract artwork. The action painting in which her works are rooted possess incomparable depth and unprecedented visual language as the artist repeatedly performs the action until the ineffable point of completion is reached.
Each of the Usquam Nusquam series is an accumulation of the bodily gestures driven by Je’s internal impulses. Instead of the traditional paintbrush, Je uses the squeegee, thus liberating herself from the artificiality and the constraints of the conventional tool. As a result, the canvas is imbued with a sense of dynamic energy, mirroring the artist’s state of mind at constant progress. For Je, the act of painting is similar to the process of unraveling and interweaving the emotional threads of her mind, encompassing the memories of quotidian scenes such as the seasonal change and weather or the joy and sorrow of the mind. With each stroke of the squeegee, the bundle of entwined threads is unraveled and rewoven into an entirely different entity. Initially compelled by an emotional impetus, the artist completes each work by closely following the tension between the energy arising from the painting and the dominant atmosphere of the moment and space in which the work is carried out.
Through the dynamic gestures and masterful play of colors, Je renders an “ever-changing, entirely unprecedented scene.” She applies diverse colors, ranging from the monochrome black and white to the vivid hues of red and blue. Each color discloses its own visual rhythm the moment it lands on the surface of the canvas with the artist’s movement. For instance, a bright tone leads in an ascending flow, while a darker color redirects it into a withdrawing course. The symphony of colors amplifies to allude to the cyclical rise and fall of emotions in human mind and the essence of nature, where even in silence exists endless changes. Rhythm and structure arises from the contour and layer of colors, and infinite spatiality is opened up across the flat surface of the canvas.
Je refers to her works as “paintings of incidental outcomes” and explains that the origin of each painting lies nowhere else but within the painting itself. Painterly expressions composed of the traces of body movements stand on their own, never reduced to a specific meaning or concrete reference. Thus, the audience is entrusted with the task of envisioning imagery to detect possible links and associations from the sporadic collisions of curves and colors.
Je Yeoran has exhibited a solo booth at Insights, Art Basel Hong Kong with 313 Art Project in 2018. Her recent solo exhibitions include Mimesis Art Museum, Paju, Korea (2016) and Indang Museum, Daegu, Korea (2015). She has also participated in various group exhibitions at The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul; The National Museum of Art, Tokyo; The International Museum, Osaka; ICAS Museum, Singapore; Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul; and more. Her works are included in the public collections of numerous foundations, including The Ludwig Cologne Foundation, Germany; The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea; Seoul Museum of Art, Korea; and more.