20s Artist Drawing All 'Connections' Opens First Solo Exhibition on the Theme of 'Connections'

Author Yang Nayoung: "Experiencing Separation Sparked a Longing for Connection"

Artist Yang Na-young talking about her work 'Connectivity'.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Hong Jeonghwan] There is a young artist who gathers everyday materials under the theme of ‘connection.’

Yang Nayoung, who graduated from university this year, held her first solo exhibition. The subjects on her canvases include a broken pipe and a boiler vent protruding from a semi-basement window. All are objects commonly seen around where Yang lives.

“I couldn’t afford to set up a separate studio, so I started working at home. The unorganized and cluttered state of the house naturally caught my eye. Starting from there, I expanded my work to highlight people and objects that are always around but go unnoticed.” Yang said she wanted to express the idea that it would be nice if all these things were connected.

Yang is an artist in her twenties working outside the metropolitan area. While living on a salary from teaching at an academy, she continued her art activities and held this exhibition with support from the Busan Cultural Foundation.

What was it like to live as a 20-something artist in the non-face-to-face era during the COVID-19 pandemic? “At first, I got a job at an academy with a promised salary of about 1 million won per month. I thought I could save minimally and continue my art activities, but suddenly everything changed when COVID broke out.”

The 20-something artist who pursued ‘connection’ was abruptly dropped into the ‘COVID era,’ completely disconnected from the world she had lived in before. She had to change her attitude and habits to reconnect her life to the COVID era. The income from students dropped to only 500,000 to 600,000 won due to the sharp decrease in enrollment.

To sustain her life, she had to minimize outings and social relationships to reduce expenses. Naturally, the scope of her encounters narrowed. Yet paradoxically, the theme captured on her canvases is ‘connection.’ Why did she choose this theme?

“When I first started working at home, I was separated from various relationships that could form my identity?family, friends, and so on. Experiencing separation made me yearn for connection.”

Though she once harbored cynicism about whether ‘connection’ was truly possible, she said that now, as small connections have formed, much of that thinking has been broken down.

Having yearned for ‘connection’ from the experience of ‘separation,’ Yang has expressed on her canvases the points where different things connect, along with her intuition and stories.

The exhibition, supported by the Busan Cultural Foundation, is held at MARU STUDIO & GALLERY from December 6 and runs until the 19th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.