What’s My Name?
Joo Yeon Woo
January 8 - February 1, 2015
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 8, 6-9pm
Brooklyn, NY - December 2014
A.I.R. Gallery is pleased to announce What’s My Name?,
a solo exhibition of new works by Joo Yeon Woo. The
exhibition will be on view from January 8th through
February 1st, with an opening reception on January 8th
from 6-9pm.
As a culturally displaced artist, Woo has been drawn to
the theme of cultural displacement and identity, and to
social psychological and cross-cultural studies that are
heavily influenced by immigrant experiences. Woo will
show two of her newest series, digital pigment prints
showing binders of immigrant documents, and
embossed paper portraits presenting Korean
immigrants collected from the ethnic media in the U.S.
New York-based art critic Lilly Wei wrote about Woo’s new print series, “ If you look closely, you might glimpse a creased immigration form, or an old red and blue striped airmail letter from a consulate or immigration o ice as well as other papers. Each folder, of an appealing and di erent color, varies in bulk depending upon the complexity of the family’s specific situation. Each, consequently, is also a portrait, complementing the ‘Gyopo Portraits,’ the files emblematic of real lives. As surrogates for these lives, the binders have a curious poignancy, representing immigrant dreams and their once and future hopes; some of them might be fulfilled, some not.”
Joo Yeon Woo has exhibited nationally and internationally, including Sejong Museum of Art in Seoul, Korea, The Vargas Museum in University of the Philippines, Philippines, Asia Contemporary Art Show in Hong Kong and Art Gwangju in Korea. She has participated in several international artist-in-residence programs including VCCA, Red Gate Residency in Beijing, China, and Studio 943 in Kunming, China. She also received a Korean National Art Festival Award at National Museum of Contemporary Art in Korea (2000) and was selected for Korea Young Artists Biennale in Korea (2002). Woo lives in Boulder, CO and teaches Painting and Drawing at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
