Working with a cast of semi-invisible sculpted characters, Jin Young Yu explores the disparity between the outward and inward self. While her work has drawn on an ever-evolving storyline—from the meek-faced outcast wishing to be invisible to others, to the family overtly flamboyant in its attempt to appear “normal” as it entertains guests, to the hidden scars we all carry with and within us—Yu’s conceptual impetus is consistently clear: to acknowledge the anxiety of social situations, and to expose the implicit acts of cover-up one engages in as he or she adheres to social convention. Yu’s work centers on the use of two opposing media, and the tropes their usage represents: the disguise—faces and clothing rendered in vibrantly painted plaster; and a yearning for invisibility—bodies molded of ultra-transparent PVC , a material Yu prefers for its weightless, distortion-free quality.
