Kukje Gallery is pleased to announce Aaron Young’s solo exhibition entitled Repeat Offender, opening on July 2nd. This will be Young’s first solo exhibition in Korea. His sophisticated works are marked by rebelliousness, impulsive energy and macho demeanor. Dynamic and full of energy, he is also well-known for his ambitious and dangerous performances. In particular, his work involving hired motorcycle bike riders to create Action paintings, completed by scores of tire marks, reveal his abstract expressionist inclinations amongst his diverse practices involving various mediums. Here, actions or gestures of the body used to create artworks can be traced to radical and influential action paintings of the 1950~60s. Young induces us into a dark and stormy world, weaving in references to marginalized subcultures while expanding and creating his own brilliant re-interpretation of Jackson Pollock’s Action paintings.
According to Young, his work is “both abstract art and performance at the same time.” Destructive actions are used as a generative force and the traces of these acts are recorded as drawings, sculptures, photographs, or videos to compose objets d’art.
This exhibition presents ten distinct works drawn from Young’s Untitled(barricade), Untitled(glass) series, and video work. Sculptural work recalling scenes of violent and destructive behavior, two-dimensional works reminiscent of graffiti or tagging that one might see in New York, are all evocative of countercultural tendencies and aggressive macho disposition, but the works on display are polished and alluring.
Artist Introduction
Born in 1972 in San Francisco, Aaron Young graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute and obtained his MFA from Yale University.
He currently lives and works in New York. He has exhibited in P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City(2005), the Serpentine Gallery, London(2006) and has participated in the 2006 Whitney Biennial and the Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art(2007). Young’s works are included in prestigious collections such as the ones at the Museum of Modern Art(MoMA) New York, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art and the JJC Oppenheimer Fund.