Installation view © OCI Museum of Art

With a diverse career spanning solo and group exhibitions, awards, and residencies, Yang Jung Uk’s solo exhibition 《Maybe it's like that》 opened on October 28 and will run until November 28. OCI Museum, where the exhibition is being held, has a long-standing relationship with the artist. In 2015, Yang was selected as an emerging artist at OCI Museum, where he presented the exhibition 《A Retired Blind Masseur A Now Sells Massage Devices》. Now, he returns with works that embody the ambiguity and frustration of life.

"I told the hairdresser, who was trying to tidy up by brushing off the cut hair, that one side seemed longer. The hairdresser, now slightly sulky, combed through my hair a few more times before making another cut. Even after that, I kept reaching into the cape, trying to describe some shape. In the end, it seemed like the hairdresser never really understood what I was saying."

- Excerpt from the exhibition catalog, written by the artist

Yang Jung Uk, A Map You Can’t Take, 2021, Mixed Media, Dimensions variable © OCI Museum of Art

Imagine trying to explain something to someone else. The more you speak, the more ambiguous the sentences become, and in the midst of that, you inevitably face moments of deepening misunderstanding. Yang Jung Uk’s exhibition visualizes such convoluted and elusive conversations through sculpture. Perhaps that is why, from the very entrance of the exhibition, his works seem to generate countless question marks.

The sculptures, composed of massive stacked forms, rotate partially while emitting mechanical sounds. Upon closer inspection, their surfaces are textured, reminiscent of topographical features, and tagged like markers on a map. This suggests that the sculptures could be interpreted as three-dimensional sketch maps or geographical models.

Beyond this, Yang Jung Uk transcribes ambiguous experiences from daily life into text and then transforms them into visual forms. These are not necessarily dialogues with people but rather small, everyday moments—like failing to replicate the taste of a dish he frequently cooks or spotting a cloud shaped like an airplane while watching planes fly by. These instances materialize as sculptural works with titles such as From the Clouds: Airplane. In his works, "writing" plays a crucial role, and given how his texts and sculptures are interwoven, it is clear that for him, creating art is not merely about making work—it is about living itself.

His recent works also exhibit noticeable differences from his previous pieces. Whereas his past works involved smaller components gradually interlocking and binding together into larger masses, his current works are more three-dimensional, delicate, and substantial. The elements adorning the surfaces have evolved from beads and wires to recognizable objects. Technically, the integration of iPads, modeling apps, and 3D printers with motors has resulted in more complex movements, amplifying the energy of the works. A newfound sense of lightness and floating forms, absent in his earlier pieces, now adds to the visual intrigue.


Installation view © OCI Museum of Art

The exhibition title "Maybe it's like that" is most vividly expressed in A Map You Can't Take. This piece consists of several wooden fragments loosely entangled and suspended in midair, with plastic rods orbiting them like a trajectory. This setup evokes the sensation of fragile clues skillfully sidestepping the core essence of something. The artist describes drawing maps in his writing, stating:
"The more I detailed the map, the more my pen tore through the paper."

Rather than insisting on a meticulously accurate map, he opted to "sketch buildings in a loose and simple way" and found "the empty spaces between them quite wonderful." He ultimately handed over this loosely drawn map. This act—offering an imprecise and ambiguous map instead of a detailed one—embodies the essence of "Maybe it's like that." It is about making something "takeable" even when it seemed impossible to take. The interplay of misaligned thoughts and everyday conversations finds its sculptural form in this exhibition, encapsulating the theme: "Maybe it's like that."

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