Youngmi Organ

Balance 2007 82" x 60" hair on mulberry paper	Trinity 2007 30" x 86" hair on mulberry paper	Expanding 2005 29" x 29" hair on mulberry paper	Cube 2005 29" x 34" hair on mulberry paper	Crate 2005 15" x 15" hair on mulberry paper

Drain 2006 16" x 14" hair on mulberry paper	Chair 2007 15" x 15" hair on mulberry paper	Becoming 2005 20" x 20" each hair on mulberry paper	Balance I 2005 20" x 19" each hair on mulberry paper	Untitled 2006-7 dimensions variable hair on mulberry paper

Artist's information

Youngmi Organ resume (PDF 32KB)

Youngmi Organ statment (PDF 29KB)

Artist Statement

There is complexity in a simple life. The simple way of drawing the line is the process in my work. My drawings are made by affixing strands of my own hair to paper in tightly arranged geometric compositions.

For me, it was natural to begin using the hair which had belonged to me and once it falls off it becomes a different substance itself. By using my own hair in my work I realize that I try to make a connection between the past and the future. My hair was the section of my body that was the perfect example of the circle of nature which has a sense of history and relationships.

I started gardening for the first time in my life recently and was amazed that a tiny dot like a seed becomes the miracle of nature. Since I am always wondering about life, here was the perfect teacher and an example of the whole process. I related the power or essence of the circle of nature of a small section of the body.

The geometric shapes of the drawings have a resonance with the abstract ideas I am focused on, and the process, which is concentration-intensive and time consuming, sets up a vehicle for self-reflection. I am interested in everyday contemporary life. Learning about new definitions of what life means today for me is part of the process of my artwork. The images that I make are mostly representing my way of understanding and translating those thought processes.

Each morning brushing my hair produces enough loose strands for that days work. In the work Extensions I began by aligning vertical strands of hair right next to each other all the way across the top of the paper. Then another row was added by extending each vertical line with another hair placed at its end, and repeated until the entire sheet was filled. Each line represents each individual lives which never stop going, the continuation of history. I learn that my existence is just a small part of the huge cosmos.

The most significant shaped piece is Ring, which is very personal in a way that the ring itself is a symbolic idea which depicts the sense of relationships. Not only man and woman, but also relation between myself and nature, the people and the whole world, the God and the human nature of rules. We like to make statement or promise the notion of understanding. But the relationships between affinity and resistance and between harmony and chaos are constantly changing. The art making process is like a never-ending story in which the work produced reflects the artist’s life at that time. As I am always pondering, it is like a chain where the questions and answers continually create more questions and answers.