Sang-Mi Yoo Superficial Outgrowths

November 22, 2013 – January 11, 2014 John M. O'Quinn Gallery

Superficial Outgrowths by Sang-Mi Yoo focuses on the ideal home through prints, laser cut wool felt and their three-dimensional conversions. The reality of finding ideal home and ideal body residing within such environments is explored through American norms. Her work is based on her childhood memories from Korea and everyday encounters of standardized residential buildings, including her West Texas living experience. Like an animal’s camouflage, this homogeneity provided her with a means to blend into her neighborhood. Her installations of large-format prints and laser cuts are based upon patterns created from cookie-cutter homes found in Lubbock, Houston and other global locations. She also adds wearable forms created from these prints by collaborating with an apparel designer, Su-Jeong Shin. The rows of houses and floorplans become abstract constructs that are subject to gravity and shadow play surrounding the materials, questioning whether the ideal home is a tangible subject or an illusion.