Emotionholic

Dec 3, 2021

Exhibition Description

Various emotions permeate between our short lives. Individuals and society exist healthy if they can fully feel emotions, share them with others, and sympathize with each other. However, if certain emotions dominate, it will signal that individuals and society in that era are in danger. Recently, emotions such as anxiety and depression have been blocking people’s views like fog and encroaching on society. Yoon Hyerin recovers the feelings that have faded in this reality.

From nature that resembles emotions that cannot be defined as one, the artist finds a clue to the work. The work presented in this exhibition began at the plant protea that the artist encountered accidentally. The artist connects various forms of protean flowers and unusual breeding methods to emotional forms and characteristics.

Protea is named after the god Proteus, who is good at obtuse, because its form varies widely. Proteus, who has the ability to predict, was extremely reluctant to predict, so he ran away from people by changing his appearance into various forms such as animals, stones, and wind. Like those who couldn’t catch him and didn’t hear the prophecy, the artist couldn’t always draw the emotions accurately. However, just as Proteus, who was sleeping somewhere in the open sea, was quickly tied up with a rope and eventually prophesied, in numerous trials and errors, the artist caught, observed, and painted emotions that quickly disappeared.

Proteas that grow naturally depend on forest fires to reproduce, which means that seeds can only be spread if the fruit touches the fire. The artist says that the emotions blooming and losing in our hearts are the same. By bringing out various emotions within an individual into society, sharing them with others, and connecting them, they exist forever in the world as they utter and spread. Therefore, in this exhibition, the artist suggests that those living in the present era should face and light up and share their feelings.

There is a very short novel on one side in the gallery. The main character of this novel is one of the characters in the novel 연기와 연기 (리소딴, 2021) co-authored by the artist. The character is described as a person with “emotional addiction” addicted to the moments of feeling various emotions. The exhibition is directed to the place before the sun rises after the protagonist in the novel left. The paintings on the wall are the One by One series, which are emotions that can be read in the novel and six emotions that humans generally feel. It is joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, fear, and hatred. In our lives, we often hear or use the words “Don’t ride an emotional roller coaster.” To reverse this sentence, the artist planned the One by One series.

“Let’s ride an emotional roller coaster.” In that context, contemporary people who lack the experience of looking deeply into their emotions and the protagonist with emotional addiction seem to be on opposite ends. The artist believes that it is important to feel emotions intact every moment in order to live a healthy life. Therefore, the artist hopes this exhibition will be a space where the audience can experience various emotions without being disturbed by anyone. Like the place where the main character in the novel visited.

Now you’re faced with a number of emotions that are in full bloom from the depths without being disturbed by anyone. Why don’t we slowly take out our own emotions and light them one by one? The temperature of the fire you have can be cold or very hot. It doesn’t matter what temperature it is. If you have faced your feelings enough, when you leave the gallery, the seeds of emotions that will grow healthy with the rising sun tomorrow will be scattered in your hearts to live today.