Yi HyunJoo : Wrath, Wire, Crawling, Toddler

Yi HyunJoo is an artist who expresses her art through the medium of a teddy bear. The artist chooses a teddy bear as a trusting friend that could, instead, expose her ego with child-like innocence. The angry bear shouts: "My head is messed up." "Exploding." "Annoyed." "Please give me a hand to get up." Perhaps, the teddy is substituting for the artist and is shouting to the world, or it could be delivering a private story to a certain individual. Maybe, it is both, containing multiple meanings. The artist is expected to make rigorous efforts to make herself known in the art world and to write a thesis as well. She may experience confusion from private meetings or social life. Yi HyunJoo, as an artist, should address a message. Yi HyunJoo, as a friend or family member, should also manage things that are expected of her within the community. Yet, our society does not like to wait. It expects something great from you. That is how capitalism is. That is how ugly capitalism is. 

There are two chemicals secreted in our brain. The first one is dopamine. Dopamine is activated when taking drugs or having heated intercourse with a lover. It is also released when having a thrilling drive on the highway, or when indulging in lavish shopping or hitting the jackpot. It fits capitalism. 

On the contrary, serotonin is social traditional. It is released when calmly hearing old stories from a grandmother on her lap. It is the kind of happiness that you feel when sharing your meal with your friends. It comes through a pleasant sound of birds' chirping. It is in the fresh smell of a clear mountain stream. However, our time demands more of the former than the latter. The calm happiness of serotonin is embodied through a cute teddy. The recent social trend of seeking something sensational and orgasmic justifies the ruling of hair-raising dopamine. When it is not met, we are very prone to become frustrated. The angry teddy is the heart-broken teddy. The teddy represents us. 

We are supposed to act in life as the angry teddy bear. The angry teddy makes us look back at our society and makes the art world reflect upon itself. It also allows us to review the unrealized desire of us all. The angry bear may be a mirror that reflects us. It is an autumn morning that takes me into deep thinking, for the message Yi HyunJoo is sending to us in this year of 2017 is by no means light. 

출처 : 갤러리2