Ten Years, Please

As an artist, Jewyo Rhii has engaged in different exhibition activities since the 1990s. She introduced her work mainly in the form of books produced for about 5 years from 1998 onwards. In these publications, the environment of the birth of physical works was recorded and documented together with the gradual flow of time around them and the changes that subsequently occurred. She published three art books in this periods that all dealt which the way people make urgent, provisional efforts to improve their physical and mental environment. These efforts, usually her own, are revealed in humorous picture stories taking the form of photos, drawings and registrations of physical works of art. 

After the books, Rhii became more interested in a non-retrospective nowness. She wants to work in the physical location of an exhibition or open up her own studio working process. She investigated coincidences and made works that vary depending on the site. She carried out spontaneous actions and seeks to work in unfamiliar spaces or situations in order to respond to the dynamics of the environment. Her interest in encountering otherness originates from the experience of living abroad in many different cultures and the challenges and discoveries that brings. She often works with ephemeral objects, temporary materials and simple, fast drawings that reflect the insecurity, resentment, deficiency and vulnerability of individual physical existence and the inevitable battles with time and space. She often uses an indefinite or not quite finished installation method that expresses hesitation and the dependency of her work on the situation. Her recent works are characterised by underlying and often undisclosed stories or experiences that serve as the inspiration for installations, video and site specific works. Most of these latest works focus on the qualities of her unique relationships with people and places that drift in and out of her artistic life, sometimes seeming to share fate for a period, sometimes just briefly touching the artist’s continuing existence. 

Jewyo Rhii lives and works in Seoul and New York.