ArtZone 461 Gallery is pleased to present in our main space new and recent works by Korean artist Jeong Im  Yi.  She describes her painting as “intersections of time and space, invitations into an emotional experience that is personal yet universal.  They record the small histories of passing time”.  The results are a translation or metamorphosis of past into present, and the expression of complex emotions, presented in elegant and eloquent simplicity.

San Francisco art critic Kenneth Baker commented on Yi’s 2004 “Introductions” show: “Modulated and sparsely punctuated white fields, they look like abstractions at a distance but up close turn into realistic reports of time-blemished walls.  Yi’s subject matter might suggest the desperation of a painter bereft of ideas, had not trompe-l’oeil masters such as William Harnett come before.  Despite her realistic manner of describing scars and holes in walls, Yi appears to have Cy Twombly more in mind than 19th century American trompe-l’oeil still life.  As much philosophical as technical, her realism involve stretching verisimilitude so thin that it nearly disappears.”

Jeong Im  Yi received her Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2004.  She received in 1993 and 1995 respectively, her BFA and first MFA in Painting from Hong-Ik University in Seoul, Korea.  She has had solo and group exhibitions in Seoul since 1994.  Her last solo show there (Dec. 2008) “Painting as Silent Witness” received acclaim from a leading Korean art critic and Gyoung Gi University Professor, Young Taek Park.  SF Art Institute Professor Jeremy Morgan wrote the catalog essay for the show.  Jeong Im has shown internationally in Asia, Europe and in the US. This is her first solo show in the United States and introduces a new body of work that explores a depth of colors and celebrates passion for them.