From God to Gold

November 29, 2006 – December 29, 2006
Reception: Saturday, December 2, 6-9 p.m.
Tuesday – Saturday 11-6 or by appointment

http://gallery.carlberggallery.com

In his third solo show with the gallery, Andre Yi explores American mining towns of the late-nineteenth century west. As in his previous work, Yi illustrates his interest in landscape and architecture and the relationship between them. Defined by expanses of color on the canvas, the landscape is minimal, only offering such elements as spruce and pine tree lines that play on the surface of the canvas. The architecture of mining towns is stripped of the aesthetic forms and considerations that make up modern architecture. These mines and buildings were created for the sole purpose of extracting a finite quantity of ore, and when these resources are gone, so goes the town. The beauty of these mines and buildings are captured in Yi’s paintings, but as in nature, these structures become reabsorbed by its environment.

Unlike its architectural counterparts, the flowing marks covering the surface of the canvas are mysterious and hard to define as representational elements. At once referenced by Asian prints of the mid-nineteenth century and American Expressionists of the twentieth century, these marks express the mood of the landscape. Since to understand a place, a viewer can experience it both through representation and expression. The viewer may see these marks as the wind and dust that flows through these forgotten mining towns, or perhaps simply as a raw expression of these landscapes.

Whether nature is God or God’s creation, the untouched landscape presents something awesome and fantastic. For Gold, Silver and other minerals, these towns have left their scars on the landscape. Yi’s paintings serve to illustrate these architectural structures, as well as the nature that slowly reclaims it