<p>Definitions are 'an unfortunate way of seeing,' says the Korean artist</p>

Painter Yi Youjin finds delight in states of uncertainty

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	Lee Eunmi, the director of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/2167/Wooson">Wooson Gallery</a> in Daegu, first encountered <strong>Yi Youjin</strong>’s work on her way to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8311/Markus-L%C3%BCpertz">Markus Lüpertz</a> exhibition in Munich. In what would be her last trip before Europe went into lockdown, she was searching for concurrent exhibitions when 'Yi.05', the artist’s solo exhibition at Galerie Britta Rettberg, showed up on Google.
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<p>
	Although Lee did not make it to the gallery in time, one of the paintings piqued her interest.      She contacted Yi upon her return to northern Italy – where she had been staying over the past three years  –  and initiated a year of fruitful   Zoom calls. They led not only to a solo show at the gallery, but also to a forthcoming solo presentation at Art Basel Hong Kong, where Yi's enigmatic canvases will be on view for the first time.
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<p>
	<em>Blaue Komposition </em>(2019), the work Lee saw and selected to be the poster for Yi's 2021   solo show 'junction', her first with Wooson Gallery and in South Korea, features several of her practice's reoccurring tropes. Submerged in shades of green and blue, the top of the painting opens to a small window of pale yellow,  barred by decisive strokes of blue. Almost invisible at first glance is an elongated figure, standing to the right of tall green foliage, seemingly blending into the blue.
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	Lee was drawn to the ambiguity in Yi’s work or, rather, its confidence with states of uncertainty. The artist finds delight in the indeterminable. In&nbsp;<em>Bodyguard </em>(2019), one of the three works that will be presented at Art Basel by Wooson, a&nbsp;human figure and a large owl-like creature rest side by side.&nbsp;Are these two protagonists familiar with each other?&nbsp;Is the animal guarding the human or vice-versa? Though Yi painted the work well before the pandemic, the human figure’s mask also hints at&nbsp;the idea of protection.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

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	For Lee, <em>Bodyguard </em>is a metaphor for the potential for reciprocity between humankind and nature. The owl looms over the human, yet it does not threaten them. ‘What I appreciate most about Yi’s paintings,’ said Lee, ‘is that they talk about returning to non-hierarchical, horizontal relationships. That we can amend and build on our relationships with nature, with one another.’ It is partly why she titled Yi’s solo exhibition at Wooson Gallery ‘junction’, for the crossroads in which the artist locates herself and her paintings.
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	Yi, on her part, is always open to new narratives. Insisting on definitions is, in the words of the artist,&nbsp;‘an unfortunate way of seeing.’ Her willful embrace of ambivalence comes as a refreshing reassurance, as tensions intensify over labeling identity in the contemporary world.
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	In addition, the dematerialized forms of Yi’s paintings inhabit a surface saturated with&nbsp;potential for interpretation: blank canvas.&nbsp;For the artist, ‘blank’ space is not a virgin territory waiting to be filled in, which she attempts to demonstrate in her ongoing experimentation with lines to delineate depth. This is evident in <em>Krähe </em>(2017), another work soon on view at Art Basel, where a lone crow stands in a field featuring bulbous forms and suggestively anthropomorphic trees that extend into the distance.
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	Wooson's representation of Yi adds a younger voice to its program. The gallery is&nbsp;known for bringing&nbsp;international artists such as Tony Cragg, Jannis Kounellis,&nbsp;and Sean Scully to South Korea. Yi's free&nbsp;exploration of painting is in line with the&nbsp;concerns of gallery artists such as Park Kyung-A, Laura Lancaster, Qwon Sungwang, and Lee Myungmi, painters who&nbsp;recently held solo exhibitions at the gallery’s physical location in Daegu as well.
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<p><em style="background-color: initial;">Junction</em>, which features almost 50 recent artworks by Yi, began in April and continues till 11 June at Wooson, Daegu. The gallery will participate in the&nbsp;Insights sector at Art Basel Hong Kong with a solo presentation of works by&nbsp;Yi Youjin.</p><p>Sherry Paik is the Editorial Assistant at Ocula.</p><p>Top image:&nbsp;Yi Youjin,&nbsp;<em>Blue Background</em> (detail), 2017. Photo by&nbsp;Yi Youjin.</p>

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