RURI YI
Abstract Non/Binaries
Friday September 2, 2016 through Saturday October 15, 2016
Guest Spot is honored to present the solo exhibition RURI YI, Abstract Non-Binaries. This is the Baltimore city-based artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery which will feature works from 2016. The exhibition will mark the beginning of our season, with an opening reception on Friday, September 2, 2016 from 7pm-10pm. A closing reception will be held on Saturday, October 15, 2016 from 2pm-4pm.
Ruri Yi intends for viewers to experience her artwork with instinctive, physical responses to the work's structure, color, and surrounding space, rather than with contextual or interpretive analysis. Yi’s work encourages a silent encounter or serene participation with the work. Yi’s paintings, inspired by real-life observations, asks viewers to subjectively experience the work through bold colors, free of gestural brushstrokes and recognizable compositions.
Yi’s creations are meditative, decorative and industrial; an art of visual serenity that is a welcome backdrop for troubled contemporary times. Her work is reminiscent and nostalgic, while creating a certitude of visceral experience that is similar to the calm found before a storm. Yi’s notion of calm relates to the idea that knowledge brings comfort; this commonality is distinctive and the thing that unites her work. Reading too deeply or seeing things that are not there can cultivate a state of anxiety. As an alternative, this exhibition is a personal reprieve from current political turmoil.
“Americans have also become increasingly terrified of the morning. Searches for “anxiety in the morning” have risen threefold over the past decade. But this is nothing compared with the fear of night. Searches for “anxiety at night” have risen ninefold.” - 50 States of Anxiety, New York Times
Ruri Yi was born in Deagu, South Korea, raised in Seoul, and currently lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland. Yi studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Since graduating she has actively exhibited her paintings throughout the Philadelphia and Baltimore areas.
Yi’s recent works reinterpret the landscapes that people live in and observe every day. Her paintings portray static images of scenes through the use of hard-edged lines, minimalist compositions, symbolic figures, and balanced colors - creating a simplified version of how she sees the world. Her work depicts abstracted elements of the urban landscape and its in-between spaces.
In 2001, Ruri Yi founded Ruriart Center for the Fine Arts (Ellicott City, Maryland), where she spent twelve years managing and operating the center, as well as teaching students at all levels, from beginning composition to advanced portfolio for college admission.
She is currently an Artist in Residency at School 33 Art Center in Baltimore, Maryland and is exhibiting in Look and Listen’s Black and White Projects NYC at Transmitter, Brooklyn, NY.