Jin-me Yoon
Web Site Link: Web Site Link
Beginning Year: 1991
Country of Birth: South Korea
Year of Birth: 1960
City: Vancouver
Country: Canada
Type of Creator: Artist
Gender: Female
Mediums: media, photography, video
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Work by Jin-me Yoon
Interior Revisited
Work ID: 85656
Description: The nature of making art means I’m continually striving to create something new. In that process, I seek to find the undiscovered by means of experimentation and risk-taking. Over time both the works and the thought processes evolve. This gradual change can result in looking at previously completed work in a different way. Interior Revisited is one such case in point. I had painted an initial version five years earlier, titling it simply "Interior." It was one of a series of paintings that addressed the 1940s internment of Japanese Canadians, which I myself experienced as a child. The word “interior,” to many of us, was synonymous with “internment camp” or just “camp.” “Where were you in the interior?” was—and for some still is—our way of connecting through shared understanding of that uprooting experience. Interior Revisited exemplifies my determination to convey my story and my identity as a Canadian of Japanese descent through my art. In this painting, the juxtaposition of a resident from a BC internment camp and that of the kimono-clad women from a 19th century ukiyo-e print underlines not just my own cultural heritage, but also the racial profiling that was at the heart of my experience in the 1940s.
Measurements: 122 x 183 cm
Collection: Royal Ontario Museum
Date Made: 2012
Materials: acrylic on canvas
Virtual Collection: Spring 2024
Hurler No. 5 (Hard Street Series)
Work ID: 85654
Description: Hard Street was stimulated by daily news reports and the accompanying images of the conflict and upheaval taking place in so many parts of the world. Charcoal and conté chalk, with their potential to create a sense of urgency and fluidity, seemed to be the appropriate medium for the theme. Each piece consists of two separate drawings, a figure on the left and demolished structures on the right. They were executed in isolation from each other and later matched up and joined together with acid-free linen tape to create diptychs. The images of violence and destruction are difficult to ignore. Occasionally, I come across photographs of protesters frozen in grace and athleticism and I am struck by the incongruity of the dance-like postures in a landscape of desperation and destruction. While rock-throwing protesters are not present in most war zones, the figures in my drawings represent the people who are struggling to survive unimaginable hardships. Originally written for the exhibition, Hard Street (Ottawa School of Art, 2016), these views still hold true today.
Measurements: 76.5 x 113.5 cm
Collection: private
Date Made: 2014
Materials: Conté and charcoal on paper
Virtual Collection: Spring 2024
Rock Face
Work ID: 85655
Description: This painting is from my present series and is a return to pure abstraction. After decades of exploring and experimenting with colour, shapes and Japanese motifs, there were signs of repetition creeping in. The time had come to move away from what had become too-familiar terrain and seek out new challenges. The result is new work in which the colour palette has been drastically reduced, Japanese imagery has been eliminated (although some Japanese aesthetics remain), and the prime concern now is exploring fresh abstract forms and accidental textures. This change in direction represents my ongoing pursuit for making something new.
Measurements: 76 x 112.5 cm
Collection: artist
Date Made: 2022
Materials: acrylic on paper
Virtual Collection: Spring 2024
