10 Questions with Se Young Yim

Se Young Yim is a New York-based painter and sculptor. She was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, and studied Fashion there. Then she moved to the USA and received an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Also, she has worked in various countries as an international artist. She was selected by GlogauAIR in Berlin, Germany, and had a solo showcase. Additionally, her works were exhibited at CICA Museum, Wess. Seoul in South Korea, The Holy Art in the United Kingdom, Subtitled.NYC, The Visionary Projects, Trestle Artspace, New Collectors gallery, Blah Blah gallery in the USA. Her artist interviews are featured by Contemporary Art Collectors, munchies art club.

@surrealmantis

ARTIST STATEMENT

Se Young's artistic practice is centered around the exploration of the vulnerable physicality of the body and the representation of intimate moments or places imbued with an eerie quality. Through her art, she seeks to capture the fragile nature of humans.

In pursuit of her artistic vision, Se Young maintains a daily routine of writing dream journals and exploring the city through photography. She collects images and objects that are familiar and domestic, which she then reassembles into her art. Her work oscillates between concealing and revealing, always with a subtle sense.

Through her art, Se Young creates a space for her audience to reflect on the complexities of love and the fleeting nature of connections between people and place. Her work invites viewers to engage with their emotions and memories.

INTERVIEW

Please, introduce yourself to our readers. What is your history and your artistic background?

I am a painter and sculptor living in Brooklyn, New York. I was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, and studied Fashion there. Then I moved to the USA and received an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Also, I have worked in various countries as an international artist.

You grew up in Seoul and studied fashion design before relocating to the US and becoming a career for you as an artist. How do these different environments influence your work? Did they significantly impact you as a person and as an artist? 

Yes, it is. Living in a different environment was a beginning point for me to think deeply about the concept of the body and place. When I introduce my work, I say that it explores the vulnerability of the body. My idea of vulnerability is that the body needs a temporary space constantly. I exist conceptually, but I also have a physical body. It doesn't matter where you live, whether it's a big city or not, you'll find a great flow in the movement of people. There are two main types of people. Those who come and those who go. I don't know anyone who hasn't moved a single step from birth to death. Inevitably, people require a minimum amount of space to exist. This place is constantly shifting throughout life. In addition, as a meaning of relationships, in the sense of forming a group or community, the body experiences change. Although our physicality is not really applied to the virtual world, when we talk online, we use the words chat 'room.' As long as a body exists, the concept of space follows. These thoughts would have been difficult for me to have without the experience of relocating. I'm still thinking about moving, body, and place. This is an important point for me as an artist and as a person. 

You have also had several international experiences, with exhibitions and collaborations in Asia, the USA, and Europe. What is your favorite memory as an artist so far?

Every experience is special and valuable. I can't pick a favorite, but experiences at Berlin and CICA museum are memorable because both allowed me to talk to a wide range of people with my work. In the GlogauAIR residency, I did an open studio event, and I heard that 200 people came in one day, and I had a conversation with almost all of them, so it was a meaningful experience to talk to almost 200 people who grew up in a different environment than I did, and the symposium at the CICA museum was also a special experience to hear the thoughts of contemporary artists from different countries. We had to prepare about 40 minutes of presentations per person, and it gave me a great opportunity to be part of the discussion of new technologies and contemporary art. 

And what is one project you are particularly proud of? 

That was for a solo showcase at a public event in Berlin. I had the opportunity to exhibit my work on a wall on the street in Neukölln, Berlin, and the piece I created for this, 'I hide tulips within my neck,' was a successful combination of image and sculptural elements. I wanted opposites to be felt at the same time, so for example, for this work that was to be shown in public, I painted an intimate scene in bed, and I made a cement frame around the painting to connect it to the concrete wall, but I also made the flow of the fabric realistically on a thin fabric rather than canvas so that when you look at the image, you feel fragile at the same time. When I exhibited the painting, I was thrilled when a curator based in Europe found my Instagram and reached out to me because she was passing by and saw my painting and liked it.

Let's now talk about your work. What are the main themes you wish to tackle with your work?

I want to talk about loneliness, intimacy, bodies, and places.

In your statement, you mention having a dream diary. How does it help you develop your work? And what other sources of inspiration or aids do you have? 

Yes. It helps. I'm pretty good at remembering my dreams in detail. It's not every day, but when I wake up, I try to write down dream journals to remember them as much as I can. On some days with good memories, it takes up to two hours for that. I don't think it helps me directly; it gives me a sense of what I'm focusing on. It's data of the subconscious, and if I don't write it down, I don't think I'll ever know. I try to analyze my subconscious thoughts through my dreams, and they influence my life and they help me come up with visual inspiration and titles of the works for my art practice. The other source is probably the photos I take. I believe both dream journals and photography are a way of seeing my perspective again after the passage of time that I might not have noticed, and that's really helpful.

In the same statement, you say your work is "a space for the audience to reflect on the complexities of love and the fleeting nature of connections between people and place." How much of your personal experience is reflected in this intention? In other words, do you use your work to analyze your own connections and relationships? 

Personal experience helps me to create ideas in the beginning point, but I don't want to do very specific or use work to analyze or talk about myself. I always hope that there's room for it to resonate with others in the abstract rather than talking about me.

Speaking of your creative process, what are the main elements you always incorporate in your work? Do you have any recurring theme, technique, or general idea that can link all your different projects? 

When I fabricate images, I'm thinking of something that feels eerie and intimate. These are keywords that I'm instinctively drawn to, and I feel like I can create stories in the abstract. And in terms of technique, I think I try to make it feel like industrial materials and fragile textures at the same time. Sometimes I actually use cement in my work, but I also like to keep paintings realistic, so they can imply different textures. 

What are you working on now? Do you have any new projects you would like to share with our readers? 

In the last few weeks, I've finished making a moving sculpture titled 'Turtle(tortoise) or Rock', and two paintings, '11:11' and 'Dance with our eyes closed.' I'd like to spend the second half of the year focusing more on developing my painting projects.

And finally, where can we see you next? Do you have any upcoming exhibitions, publications, or shows?

I'm participating in a group show starting this week at the Village One art gallery in New York. I can't wait to show my new work in other exhibitions in the future. 

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.