Finding hidden road to subtle art

After 25 years of earlier artwork, Yang has found her own path and style of working - she finds a road, steps on it and erases the footprints as she moves forward.

"I wanted to use the term 'road.' When you come to the end of a project, the road seems to end, too. But you need to find another hidden road again," said the artist last week.

Wanting her deep emotions to be hidden from other people, but at the same time, leaving a tiny space for the truth to be revealed, Yang's work is an endless challenge of hiding and revealing.

"I remember walking on a small path in a mountain, which was all covered by snow. As I walked through, I wanted to erase the footsteps I left behind. This is exactly the same when I work on art," said Yang. She is considered one of the first generation of Korean installation artists. Often called a "color dot artist," she has drawn colored dots for over 20 years.

Yang Ju-hae`s installation work on the wall of Arko Art Gallery

Like keeping a secret diary, for example, Yang matched every letter of the alphabet to different colors and wrote what she really wanted to say but could not do so in public.

"No one would figure out what I said until someone finds a note of both the alphabet and colors, which will be impossible because I destroyed it already," said Yang, smiling and giving a mischievous look.

In her exhibition, Yang will utilize both the inside and the outside of the studio and cast her own world of bar codes. She once was very intrigued by a bar code which was reflected by the sunlight and then the artist started to connect things to their identities by reading bar codes.

The work on the facade of a building has been her experiment since the 1990s. One of her well-known projects was to use the construction curtain as a canvas so that people walking by the construction site could instantly become art viewers for a short moment.

Inside the studio, Yang will turn the Exhibition Hall 1 into a space where visitors can walk by and through the three-dimensional bar code, which is diversified by graphic colors including red, blue and yellow.

"I heard people won't have to carry ID cards with themselves because tiny 'bar codes' will be implanted in the future," Yang said.

In the Exhibition Hall 2, Yang's all plane works will be displayed encompassing color dots, latticed works, installations, bar code works and Buddhist paintings.

At the small gallery inside the studio, visitors will be able to read and purchase art magazines, catalogues and art books.

"Yang Ju-hae: a road at the end of the road" will open tomorrow at Arko Art Gallery (former Marronnier Art Gallery) in Daehangno and run until Feb. 11. It will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and closed every Monday. Guides will be available at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. everyday. The gallery is near Exit 2 at Hyehwa Station on Subway Line No. 4. For more information, call (02) 760-4724.

<By Kim Yoon-mi, The Korea Herald >