Youjin Yi
(1980)
Youjin Yi’s (이유진) metaphorical art evokes the themes of solitude, exile, fate, and the beauty of the world. It retraces the distant memories of a forgotten country in which nature is peopled with animals and mysterious figures.
The solitary man walking through a landscape is one of the recurrent themes of her works. This mysterious figure, shaped like a mountain, is represented with its face removed or hidden by its hands, inviting the viewer to interpret it in many ways.
The lightness of her touch and the themes addressed are suggestive rather than imposing and they transport the viewer into a dreamlike world in which visual potency is combined with poetry.
Youjin Yi spent her childhood in Korea, where she lived a simple life in the countryside; she was by no means predestined to become an artist, but as a child she started drawing the vegetables her parents sold in their shop.
In 2004, after studying art in Seoul, she moved to Germany, where she pursued her art training, working with Leiko Ikemura in Berlin and Günter Förg in Munich, where she eventually decided to settle.
From April 2021 to March 2022, Youjin Yi benefits the Working Grant Stiftung Kunstfonds .
Personal exhibitions
—2024 “Unprompted”, KORNFELD gallery, Berlin, Germany
2022 “Twisted”, Galerie Vazieux on Artsy (online)
“Figments”, Britta Rettberg Gallery, München, Germany
2021 Solo Show, Art Basel Hongkong, Hong Kong
“Junction” WOOSON GALLERY Daegu, South Korea
“Organic Symmetry” Lemoyne Project, Zurich, Swiss
2020 Artothek und Bildersaal München, Munich, Germany
Yi.05, Galerie Britta von Rettberg, Munich, Germany
2018 Unter Bewusstsein,Tanja Pol Galerie, Munich, Germany
2014 Tanja Pol Galerie, Munich, Germany
2013 Tanja Pol Galerie, Munich, Germany
2012 Abstrakt, Galerie Kunsthaus, Starnberg, Germany
Groups exhibitions
—2024 “Spring Show”, Galerie Vazieux, Paris, France
Taipei Dangdai with Galerie Vazieux, Taipei, Taiwan
Art Basel Hong Kong with Wooson gallery, Hong Kong
2023 “One Week Show”, Galerie Vazieux, Paris, France
Asia Now Art Fair with Kornfeld Gallery, Paris, France
“Body Language”, Kornfeld Gallery, Berlin, Germany
The Armory Show with Wooson Gallery, New York, USA
Drawing Now with Wooson Gallery, Paris, France
2022 Frieze Seoul & Kiaf Seoul with Wooson Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
2021 “Element”, Galerie Vazieux, Paris, France
Summer show(New works / Editions), Galerie Britta Rettberg, Munich, Germany
“SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN?” in Rathausgalerie Kunsthalle, Munich, Germany
2020 WIDERSTAND, BLICK FANG 2020, Sommerexhibition in Kunsthaus, Kaufbeuren, Germany
2019 “Papierarbeiten” Youjin Yi, Philipp Messner, Leonhard Hurzlmeier und Hansjoerg Dobliar, Galerie Britta Rettenberg, Munich, Germany
2018 Schiffe setzten über,Galerie der Künstler, BBK, Munich, Germany
OCCURENCE-Part 3, ein Kunstprojekt von Stephanie Maier, Kulturwerkstatt HAUS 10,
Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany
2017 Jahregaben,Kunstverein München, Munich, Germany
2016 Jahregaben,Kunstverein München, Munich, Germany
FRISCHLUFT TANKEN im BERLINERBODEN SCHLUFT, Schorfheide, Germany
After Realism,GiG MUNICH,Galerie im Gartenhaus, Munich, Germany
OCCURENCE-Part2,ein Kunstprojekt von Stephanie Maier im Kösk, Germany
2015 Jahregaben,Kunstverein München, Munich, Germany
OCCURENCE-Part1,ein Kunstprojekt von Stephanie Maier in der Färberei, Germany
ONGGI,A Space for a Week in Cologne,Tanja pol Galerie c/oStudio, Germany
Wolfgang Burat, Cologne, Germany
Weltraum, Munich, Germany
2014 Jahregaben,Kunstverein München, Munich, Germany
Die ersten Jahre der Professionalität, Galerie der Künstler, BBK, Munich, Germany
2013 Jahregaben,Kunstverein München, Munich, Germany
My mind keeps wandering – Kunst aus München in Biesenthal, Wehrmühle
Biesenthal, Biesenthal, Germany
Die ersten Jahre der Professionalität, Galerie der Künstler, BBK, Munich, Germany
2011 Hintergründe, Galerie der Moderne, Munich, Germany
Ereignis Druckgraphik 2, Internationale Druckgraphikausstellung, Leipziger Buchmesse, Germany
2010 Dialogos, Fundacion Ludwig de Cuba, Catedra Humboldt, Casa Monumento Salvador Allende, Havane, Cuba
2009 Neuer Kunstverein, Regensburg, Germany
2008 Weltraum, Munich, Germany
2007 tavola calda, Kunstverein Heilbronn, Heilbronn, Germany
Bilder um ein Märchen, Kunstarkaden München, Munich, Germany
