Boxes 3 Print

A Sacrificial Art ​ The art of Yeowoon Kim springs from her observation of the dynamics, and victims, of modern capitalism. But the means to her ends are subtle and indirect. By turning to examples from the natural world, Yeowoon represents human oppression and isolation, depicting animals as substitutes for those who have been, and continue to be sacrificed. Her meticulously created exhibition spaces suggest domestic interiors, which she then fills with lovingly detailed paintings of living creatures which have been “collected” and are on display. We --modern humanity-- are the innocent, oftentimes harmless animals --captured, imprisoned, and isolated-- that decorate the curio cabinets of an acquisitive consumerist society. The eye is drawn to small canvases of startlingly realistic birds and animals, with a resulting sense of immediate emotional engagement. But upon closer inspection the viewer realizes the majestic owl or adorable kitten is in fact encased in a Perspex box. The smallness of the box emphasizes the compression, isolation, and objectification of each individual subject. The knowledge that no living creature could survive long in such a plastic enclosure engenders fear, alarm, and empathy with the “sacrificed” animal. Her art is a mirror held to our faces, reflecting back indirectly and quietly the outrages perpetrated upon us by ourselves. Some of the paintings show apparently living animals, others “trophy” heads, or only plundered remains, such as in the ivory paintings. A rabbit and a wolf cub trapped in the same box appear equally vulnerable, despite one being considered a predator and the other prey. Doors and windows imply the exits and escape which these creatures are forever denied. The freedom that seems reachable only makes their reality crueler. An entire universe fills the window in a door, and presents a new motif in her works. Modern science has allowed humankind an unprecedented arrogance, a false sense of dominance and mastery, and such images recall viewers to their own essential fragility in the contemplation of her paintings. 2010, Octavia Randolph. writer