MUSCLE ACHES: Arrivals

Jewyo Rhii

December 3 – January 16, 2010
Opening reception: Thursday, December 3, 6-8 pm

 
Doosan Gallery New York is pleased to announce Muscle Aches: Arrivals, an exhibition of new drawings and installations by South Korean-born artist Jewyo Rhii. The exhibition will open on Thursday, December 3rd at Doosan Gallery New York, 533 West 25th Street, New York. There will be an opening reception on December 3rd, from 6 to 8 p.m. This will be Jewyo Rhii’s first solo exhibition in New York.
 
As the title Muscle Aches: Arrivals suggests, Rhii’s drifting over the last decade - moving through different places in Seoul, the U.S., and Europe - caused her arrival in new cities to become part of her regular routine. In her adjustment to new surroundings, as well in her sense of displacement and slight disorientation, Rhii is neither dismissive nor helpless. She thoughtfully places her effort into expression of these frustrations by using ephemeral materials that she finds around her in order to create a dialogue in her own inimitable way. As a result, everyday objects that most people consider to be ordinary are not so for her. Rather, they are new elements to which she continuously must adjust, resulting in constant frustration and the realization of how absurdly vulnerable her body becomes every time she is exposed to a raw environment. Such awareness of vulnerability often causes physical ailments, such as an anxious stomach, and can make people become neurotic in their constant uncertainty. Rhii emanates a sense of dignity surrounding the ignored quality of marginal objects and merges these objects into her work in an extraordinary way. The flow of the moment, with its uncertainty and emotion, is an element in understanding her work.
 
Rhii creates drawings and installations using transient, mundane materials. Her seemingly fragile and hostile-looking installations reflect her constant negotiation with new surroundings and the unfamiliarity of everyday life. They are also a statement of how everyday materials can make us feel flimsy and challenged, even though they are meant to be friendly. It is surprising to realize that such objects can cause us to be alienated from our own lives.
 
Jewyo Rhii lives and works in Korea. She has had solo exhibitions at Galerie Ursula Walbrol in Dusseldorf, Germany (2008); Samuso in Seoul, Korea (2006); and Gwangju Biennale (2008); Istanbul Biennale (2007); and Ten Years Please (2007) at Gallery 27 in Korea. She represented South Korea at the 51st Venice Biennale as one of the participant artists (2005). She has also published numerous books, among them Of Five Carts and On (2009), Two (2005) and Warm and Humidifying (2002).
 
Parallel exhibition: Jewyo Rhii is included in Everyday Miracles (Extended) at REDCAT, curated by Hou Hanru. The exhibition opened on November 22 and runs until January 17, 2010.