Yon Yi Sohn (Seoul, South Korea & Wellington, NZ)
Toi Pōneke Arts Centre is delighted to announce Yon Yi Sohn as the 2023 Toi Pōneke Visual Artist in Residence.
Yon Yi explores systematic and geometric abstract, patterns, grids, forms and colour arrangements, expressed mainly in the medium of drawing, painting, printmaking, embroidery and installation.
Originally from Seoul, Yon Yi studied art and design at Hong Kong University and RMIT University before moving to New Zealand in the mid 2000s. She holds a Certificate of Art and Design from Hong Kong University and a BFA from Massey University, and a MA Painting from the Royal College of Art in London. During her final year at Massey, Yon Yi won the 2013 Europe Day art competition sponsored by the European Union in Wellington. Her drawing was selected as one of the finalists for the 2013 Parkin Drawing Competition.
Yon Yi’s residency proposal is inspired by Richard Long’s 1967 work ‘A Line Made by Walking’ included in Tim Ingold’s book Lines: A Brief History (Routledge, 2016). Tim Ingold noted that Richard Long’s lines are not made by additive or reductive activities that are usually associated with trails or traces, but by continuous and repetitive activities. This idea resonates with Yon yi, as her practice is very much based on repetitive methods producing a series of works, influenced by both Korean dansaekhwa as well as Western minimalism, through an abstract concept and physical labour dialectic.
Yon Yi states:
I look at history, philosophy, literature, folklore, myth, traditions, religion, and material culture, and am influenced by all of these. I am drawn to a minimalistic and formalist approach to image making, expressed in patterns and colours with their cultural and emotional associations, as well as materiality and its meanings and symbolism. I am also influenced by memories of Korea, my native country, and especially by bojagi (meaning patchwork in Korean) patterns and the natural colours of traditionally dyed fabric which I discovered recently.
Recent exhibitions include; NZ Academy of Fine Arts Summer Exhibition Group Show, Wellington, NZ (2022) ,88 The Terrace Pop Up Gallery Solo Show, Wellington, NZ (2022), Upper Gulbenkian Gallery Group Show, London (2022), ‘Hidden’ Group Show, Royal College of Art, London (2021), Cromwell Place RCA Graduation Show, London (2021), Hockney Gallery Group Show, London (2020) and many more. See her website foe more info here:
Yon Yi starts her residency in July and will exhibit at Toi Pōneke gallery in October - November 2023.
For more information on other Toi Pōneke Residencies click here
