Haegue Yang (*1971)

The Intermediate – Hairy All Over, 2016

The work »Hairy All Over« is a subgroup of the series The Intermediates by the South Korean artist Haegue Yang (*1971, Seoul). It is made up of four straw sculptures which were purchased by the Stiftung für die Hamburger Kunstsammlungen in the context of the exhibition »Uncharted Territory« (2016/17). The group of works consists of an unconventional arrangement of diverse materials with the appearance of anthropomorphic beings. Its composition irritates through the interplay of different materials, each representing a different realm of experience: industrially manufactured materials drawn from the urban environment (swivel casters), and natural products related to rural life (straw). In her work, Yang juxtaposes or partially combines the conflicting principles of modernity and tradition. Allusions to dance and fairy-tale worlds are also perceivable in the entire body of works, which may appear to the observer like a voyage into a mysterious and yet unexplored world.