Upcoming exhibition of Yu tackles the tension between useful and useless objects. Positioned in between standardized objects, Yu's work gives them new function and form. Perhaps his way of creating originates from paying homage to labor of count-less unknown. Bicycles that one see easily on the street are transformed to the extent that one barely recognizes its original form. Yu's been collecting pictures of those bicycles and named them as "monster bicycles." Question that arises is whether those objects or people who produce and use such objects would qualify as the monster.

Yu again addresses the theme of 'making' in relation to the reality. To him, the point of 'making' is to question his own will towards the act of making, and at the same time to realize it in physical form. He chose objects that are near him in an effort to create works that are not too far from what he experiences in everyday life. What's remarkable about <A.S.A.P> is that it adds roof and roller blinds on a transportation means that are used in delivery service. The result is that <A.S.A.P> appears to deliver what's undeliverable, and at the same time as a closed delivery service. Aside from how one interprets the installation of such imposing scale, the pictures that artist collected are archived, capturing the unstoppable moments of life and consumption.

Deviating from the need to be useful, Yu's objects fulfill the personal and specific needs and becomes the third person. Yu creates a study room for a friend who's preparing for TEPS or a fan that will cool down his writer friend in hot summer days. Desk and fan comforts them and their past and future actions. Rather than to increase productivity, he writes English grammars and plays clips of fan on the screen.

The title of exhibition <It's difficult for me to use> is the artist's statement. Instead of criticizing poor working environment and difficulties that workers encounter in life, he observes what's around him and lets the viewer question. <Artist's studio> and <It's

written by Si-won Hyun

Homage to labor : the third objects

difficult for me to use> best illustrates the idea. On the work station that the artist transfered from Duksoo palace, he personally designs and produces the tools that used to be customized to a craftsman. Yu's work chronicles the craftsman's decades of experience using his worktable and tools, and turns them into something that imitates objects and environments that are private to himself. Yu's actual studio is full of confusion and light objects. He directs attention that was once on objects like bicycles, desk, and tables to his own labor space through mixing tools and his studio space. <Artist's studio> is a work that suspends his work station and tools in the air in an attempt to disturb original purposes of objects and location employing satire and humor. Could the artist retain depth and be done with dispair? "Difficulty" is another theme of this show.

Richard Sennett once discussed transformation, existence, and personification as evidences on how human beings and objects interact. Existence of object, which emerged from transforming material and texture, is itself an interaction, and personi-fying it activates one's emotion. If existence is the feeling of oneself who creates, human being interacts with objects by personifying the objects, the act of under-standing. Yu looks at the possibility of unusual usage and the form of objects as an effort to weigh the idea of mass production and craftsmanship. But it was not enough for the artist to simply stare at it. He recreated objects that have limited usage out of what's readily available in all parts of the world. Objects for a friend whose name is covered with alphabets, for the artist himself and for someone who uses it to make his own tool are all works that evoke existence of what's in the environment. Yu's work naturally discovers the most appropriate use of an objects without guidelines. Usefulness bares not efficiency and competition but offers consolation and empathy through artist's unique viewpoint.

it's difficult for me to use

YOO HWA SOO

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