NYAB Event - Yunice Kang "Maya: Let Me Be Your Mirror"

Yunice Kang "Maya: Let Me Be Your Mirror"

Frontrunner Gallery

This event has ended.

South Korean born photographer Yunice Kang (b.1982) immigrated to the States at the age of 9. Her first American experience took place in Atlanta, Georgia, then on to Los Angeles, CA where she spent her youth.

Growing up with a photographer father and his library of photography books, Kang developed her visual vocabulary early on but did not begin exploring photography first hand until in her early 20’s.

Kang Completed studies at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA with aBachelor of Arts degree in Photography and Imaging, and since then has been based in Brooklyn, NY.

This exhibit is the first solo presentation by Yunice Kang. From a chance meeting in the subway, the photographer and her subject named Maya established an organic relationship that created images displaying trust, openness, and a genuine exchange between the artist and the muse over the course of 6 months.

Photographer Yunice Kang studies Maya’s distinctive features that make her so ambiguous and intriguing. The series of photographs is an exploration of Maya’s body and its responses to movement, environment, and a complete lack of environment all together. This is shown through the juxtaposition of her skin tones against the color and texture found in three separate settings.
Maya’s transparent skin and her mannerisms in front of the camera inspired the prominent influence by the classical portrait paintings. In this body of work, the skin is left bare without any retouching.

The video supplement and one of the photographs in the exhibit create a multi-layered image combining a range of expressions taken at separate times. Classical paintings capture the subject’s continually changing appearance throughout their sitting in front of the artist, and these particular pieces of multilayered photographs attempt to create a digital interpretation of the depth of character found in classical portraits.