Mesmerizing Mesh with Shrine
2023-

Installation view of Kukje Gallery booth at Frieze New York 2024
Photo: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

 

Leafy Gradation Fountain Soul Site – Mesmerizing Mesh #233
2024
Hanji, washi, origami paper on alu-dibond, framed
92 x 62 cm
Courtesy of Kukje Gallery
Photo: Studio Haegue Yang

 

Incense Sumie Geologic Soul Site – Mesmerizing Mesh #223
2023
Hanji, washi, origami paper on alu-dibond, framed
92 x 62 cm
Courtesy of Kukje Gallery
Photo: Studio Haegue Yang

 

Spring Sail Argiope Aubade – Mesmerizing Mesh #216
2023
Hanji on alu-dibond, framed
62 x 62 cm
Courtesy of Kukje Gallery
Photo: Studio Haegue Yang

 

 

Enveloped Domestic Soul Channels – Mesmerizing Mesh #208
2023
Hanji, washi, origami paper on alu-dibond, framed
6 parts, 62 x 62 cm; 92 x 62 cm
Courtesy of the artist

Installation view of The Open World, Thailand Biennale 2023, Chiang Rai, Thailand, 2023
Photo: Studio Haegue Yang

 

Haegue Yang’s ongoing series Mesmerizing Mesh (since 2021) explores the artist’s longstanding interest in the relationship between spirit and matter as well as diverse mystical practices ranging from European paganism to Asian shamanism. In recent years, this interest has turned toward various paper cutting traditions and the sacred dimension of hanji , traditional Korean paper derived from the inner bark of the mulberry tree. Mesmerizing Mesh is loosely inspired by ritual paper props made of hanji used in purifying, healing, exorcizing, and cleansing rites. Typically folded before cutting, the props display strongly symmetrical motifs. For Yang, these paper objects speak to the human impulse to craft objects for intercessory purposes, using matter to access the spirit.

Mesmerizing Mesh reflects on how shamans and artists take “mystic leaps” out of earthly materiality. The mystic leaps appear to reach language, aesthetics, communication, value, and all that lies outside the material realm. Just as shamanistic paper props bridge the dimensions of the living world and beyond, Yang activates hanji by layering, folding, carving, and attaching, creating geometric and figurative compositions to take the leap from material to the dematerialized.

 

Exhibition history

The Open World, Thailand Biennale 2023, Chiang Rai, Thailand, 2023

 

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