Hyun Yoon: Endurance and Concord

Hyun Yoon received the Pastel Award in Jackson’s Artwork Prize this yr along with her work Warmth Waves. On this interview, Hyun talks about her strategy to abstraction, the supplies she will’t stay with out, and the way listening to a specific file helps her put together for a day within the studio.

Above picture: Hyun Yoon in her studio in Clapton, London.

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Josephine: May you inform us about your inventive background?

Hyun: My background is in design. I’m from South Korea, the place I used to be born, raised, and studied product design. After graduating, I travelled the world with my husband, which was an incredible expertise that massively influenced my creativity. In some unspecified time in the future, I developed a powerful need to stay in Europe, and I felt that it must be London – particularly Clapton. The marshland was most likely the largest cause I selected this space. Wetlands are uncommon in Korea, and the primary time I noticed the marsh right here, it was stuffed with water, forming a number of ponds. Birds I had by no means seen earlier than swimming round. That lovely scene made me really feel this was the place I wanted to stay.

 

 

Finally, my husband and I settled in London, and I started working as a contract designer. Throughout this time, I shared a studio house and obtained to know different artists. All of us appeared to share one thing in widespread – everybody appeared so free. That’s once I developed a long-lasting curiosity in artwork, repeatedly asking myself “What’s artwork?”. This query had most likely been with me for a very long time.

Then the pandemic modified the whole lot. I discovered myself more and more drawn to high-quality artwork, notably summary drawing and portray. It was a major shift, but it surely felt like a extra thrilling route for my life, and I’ve been centered on that path ever since.

 

 

Josephine: What does a typical working day within the studio seem like for you? Do you might have any essential routines or rituals?

Hyun: Just lately, I renovated my flat, and I’m now utilizing a part of it as my studio house. To make that occur, I needed to transfer quite a lot of different gadgets into storage. However, because of that, I used to be in a position to safe a workspace, which is fortunate!

I usually begin with music. That’s my form of ritual. I’ve gotten into the behavior of listening to a collection of vinyl data in a selected order earlier than attending to work. This summer season, I’ve been obsessive about an outdated recording from the 1958 Newport Jazz Competition. I got here throughout this vinyl by probability, however for some cause, I stored taking part in it time and again. Significantly. I listened to all of it summer season. Despite the fact that it was recorded lengthy earlier than I used to be born, it seems like I’m sitting proper there on the venue. It is extremely unusual; just like the quartet’s jazz efficiency travelled nearly 70 years by time and located its method on to me.

I maintain onto that feeling so long as attainable, usually shedding myself in it. It turns into nearly meditative. The entire course of is extra about letting go. No matter ideas come to my thoughts, I allow them to movement freely. Once I do this, a sure stillness washes over me. This routine actually helps me clear my thoughts.

 

 

Josephine: Which supplies or instruments may you not stay with out?

Hyun: I used to be obsessive about ink for a very long time. Winsor & Newton’s brown drawing ink was my finest pal. I cherished the way in which the ink would unfold once I added somewhat little bit of water. At the moment, I assumed I might use it without end. However, like seasons altering, that part of my life handed naturally. Perhaps I moved from one interval to a different with out even realising it.

Today, I really feel like I can’t stay with out my curler. The six inch curler from Essdee has develop into a necessary software in my portray. I don’t bear in mind precisely once I purchased it, however I nonetheless maintain it and use it as a portray software. I want the way in which acrylic paint is ready on a floor once I apply it with the curler. I’ve been fascinated by creating texture, and the curler permits me to supply a extra warbling texture than a brush may. I really like the method of spreading paint. The random method it transfers onto the floor actually appeals to me.

 

 

One in all my latest works concerned utilizing this methodology on a Jackson’s 10 inch picket panel. I utilized a wealthy quantity of acrylic paint with pressure – I’ve discovered Sennelier Summary Acrylic paint works very nicely. By rolling the floor, I can create bumpy textures throughout all the piece. As soon as the paint is half-dried, I start drawing with Unison Color Mushy Pastels on prime. I even make layers till I really feel happy. Spraying fixative repeatedly to maintain the pastels in place is inevitable however pleasant. This whole course of seems like an ideal match for my ongoing artwork observe.

 

 

Josephine: Do you retain a sketchbook? If that’s the case, how does this inform your work?

Hyun: Sure, I maintain all my sketchbooks. Perhaps I’m too sentimental, but it surely’s troublesome for me to throw them away. It’s simply exhausting to say goodbye to these sketches, doodles, and phrases. They’re nice instruments for monitoring my private historical past as nicely. Issues like, “Oh, I had these ideas again then,” or “That is the form of drawing I used to do in my 30s.” There have been intervals once I sketched so much, and others once I barely sketched in any respect, leaping straight into the ultimate piece.

After receiving this query, I regarded by my outdated sketchbooks and felt the passage of time. Even essentially the most meaningless doodles appeared utterly new to me. Reopening outdated sketchbooks usually brings new views. One thing I drew months, and even years in the past, can all of a sudden reveal itself in a totally totally different gentle.

 

 

Josephine: Have you ever ever had a interval of stagnation in creativity? If that’s the case, what helped you overcome it?

Hyun: I’ve skilled intervals of stagnation a number of occasions. Discoveries that when felt model new now not appeared contemporary, and it doesn’t matter what I drew, it felt like simply repetition. I turned trapped in that cycle without end. For me, that was stagnation. The tip of the creativity. However after going by these phases a number of occasions, I got here to understand one thing. Each artwork piece held which means as a result of I gave it which means. Stagnation occurs once I cease discovering which means in issues that when felt significant. And I do know that I’ll discover one thing new once more. So, nowadays, I’ve discovered to attend patiently for the second when I’ll discover which means in one thing else.

 

 

Josephine: Are there any particular artists or mentors who’ve impressed you?

Hyun: My husband. He’s the one who has had an infinite affect on me. All the time. We met in design faculty and have been collectively ever since.

Over practically 20 years, together with our transfer from South Korea to London, he’s been the individual I can discuss to about nearly something on the planet with out hesitation (in fact artwork and design are widespread subjects of our conversations). I really consider that we affect one another so much. I feel I’ve impacted his design works simply as a lot as he has influenced my paintings, although I can’t all the time pinpoint precisely how we’ve formed one another’s creations. What I do know for certain is that when my life hit the underside, he was the primary individual I might ask for assist. He’s the one I need to present my paintings to first and the very one I like to shock with my paintings. Having somebody like that in my life seems like an ideal blessing.

 

 

Josephine: How did it really feel to understand you had received the Pastel award?

Hyun: I used to be actually shocked. Shock with happiness. I nearly jumped up like a spring! The very first thing that got here to my thoughts was pastels – actually pastels. Once I truly acquired the Unison Color Pastel Set for the prize, I used to be amazed to see it included much more colors than I had anticipated. I had already been interested by increasing my use of color past those I normally work with, after which it simply occurred. I obtained this pastel set!

I’ve been difficult myself recently to discover a variety of color mixtures. I’m notably involved in delicate colors and the way they harmonise with each other, and I consider Unison’s mushy pastel set I acquired undoubtedly helps me in that exploration.

 

 

Josephine: Warmth Waves depicts the humid metropolis warmth as a beige slab of acrylic amongst pastel vegetation that appear to vibrate within the scorching solar. Do you intend out a composition earlier than starting, or does it emerge intuitively?

Hyun: On the subject of creating artwork, I are likely to depend on instinct. It wasn’t all the time this manner. There was a time once I strictly adopted a selected course of I made. I did plenty of sketches in a sketchbook and developed these sketches utilizing collages or one thing like that. However I realised that this course of was not useful for me, particularly when it got here to summary work. That doesn’t imply I don’t plan out compositions in any respect. I nonetheless work out plenty of drafts upfront, however in the long run, I make adjustments by including totally different components. That is most likely due to my persona. I actually take pleasure in improvisation. I really like creating one thing new, within the second, it doesn’t matter what it’s.

Warmth Waves was one other instance of my spontaneity. That day was extraordinarily scorching. A warmth wave had taken over town for days, and the whole lot round me felt dry and lifeless. Even the big park, normally stuffed with inexperienced, had modified its color, nearly fading within the warmth. The DJ’s voice on the radio felt prefer it was melting down. I bear in mind I simply began drawing. Perhaps I simply wished to seize the second in my very own method. That’s all it was. So, I used an imaginary color palette, bringing again the colors of the vegetation and timber, after which created a big ‘slab’ with a splash of a brush to symbolise the warmth wave. All the pieces within the portray got here collectively intuitively, with none planning from begin to end.

 

 

Josephine: You utilize each acrylic paint and pastel pencils. How do these two mediums work together?

Hyun: I take pleasure in mixing supplies which may appear they don’t match collectively at first, as a result of there’s all the time an opportunity one thing surprising will occur. Despite the fact that the mix feels a bit uncommon, I really like experimenting with these contrasts. By some means, I do know they’ll finally result in a shocking impact.

One instance is my use of pastel pencils and acrylic paints collectively. I principally use Caran d’Ache pastel pencils to attract traces in a single space to construct quantity. I really like the fragile traces I could make with the pastel pencils. What captivates me most is how daring and dynamic the traces develop into on paper, making a dominant visible motion. As soon as the road drawing is full, I add daring strokes of acrylic paint, usually utilizing Golden’s heavy physique acrylic paint. As you realize, pastels and acrylics are essentially totally different. Pastel pencils convey a mushy and delicate feeling whereas acrylic paint is thick and daring. However once I mix them, they type an unexpectedly stunning concord. It’s like a dance, precisely what I try to create.

 

 

Josephine: What’s developing subsequent for you?

Hyun: I don’t have something set in stone but, however I’m planning a solo exhibition for subsequent yr. Proper now, I’m simply working exhausting on creating new items for it.

Observe Hyun on Instagram

Go to Hyun’s web site

 

 

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Additional Studying

Sarah Dyer Curates Units of Jackson’s Handmade Mushy Pastels

Contained in the Sketchbook of Akash Bhatt

Acrylic Portray for Rookies – What You Have to Get Began

Dimension, Primer, Gesso and Floor Defined

 

Store Pastel Portray on jacksonsart.com