Installation view of 《Green Veil》 © DrawingRoom
DrawingRoom presents a solo exhibition 《Green Veil》 by artist Youngsil Pyo, on view
through June 27.
Youngsil Pyo has long spoken about the
instability of life and, in an effort to offer consolation, has approached the
making of a perfect pictorial surface with great care. The artist has remarked
that she spent years refining her paintings, seeking to create a flawless and
secure surface as a way of calming the anxieties that arise from life’s
inherent unpredictability.
Yet the soft, delicate surfaces she created
became increasingly vulnerable to external damage, prompting her to question
whether her pursuit of perfection had become overly obsessive. It was through
walks taken to relieve this concentrated tension that she encountered the
landscapes that would become the starting point for the exhibition 《Green Veil》.
Youngsil Pyo, Stillness, 2026, Oil on canvas, 24x33cm © DrawingRoom
Stepping back from the fluorescent pink
faces that had grown increasingly rigid in their attempt to suppress anxiety,
Pyo turned her attention outward toward thickets and wooded landscapes.
Dense green foliage fills the canvas,
interwoven with clusters of light that appear soft, fluffy, or sharply pointed.
Following the artist’s meandering brushstrokes, viewers discover a small house
and diamond-shaped glimmers of light embedded within the scene.
In this exhibition, Pyo no longer places
landscape and figure side by side. Instead, the pink forms that once obscured
faces in her earlier works reappear in transformed guise—as houses and
sparkling lights—offering subtle clues from within the dense masses of green.
