Cheryl Yun
he Cheryl Yun Collection is a range of image-based sculptural objects or "products," from handbags to clothing, which simultaneously mirror and subvert fashion and consumer culture to reveal, question, and reevaluate one's relationship to the world.
The Cheryl Yun Collection handbag series is handcrafted and features newspaper photographs of tragedy and catastrophe, religious and political conflict, as well as issues of beauty and control. The form of the handbag references the latest trend, and the image archives the headline image of tragedy or catastrophe. Begun in 2002 the artist periodically updates the collection with the most recent bags and events. The fragility of the newsprint over time reflects the superfluous quality of consumerism and fashion, but on a deeper level speaks of the transience of one's identity.
The Cheryl Yun Collection: lingerie and bathing suits is an image-based series of underwear, which questions the "victims" and "aggressors" of our current political, economic and religious conflicts. The underwear is influenced by images of suicide vests found online and in the newspaper. The photographs are appropriated from the New York Times and online media sites, scanned and manipulated by inverting, mirroring, repeating and patterning to create a complex visual fabric. The process exaggerates the historic treatment of documentary photographs as well as the current manipulation and censorship that exists in our society. The most recent series of string bikinis focuses on guns, gun violence and war. Concentrating on the events in Newtown, Yun juxtaposes her four-year-old daughter's painting with images of Lanza's Bushmaster. The resulting fabric is beautiful and sorrowful but at the same time disconcerting. The garments represent our fragmented position between passivity and aggression, desire and repulsion, and good and evil, becoming substitute sites for hostility on the local as well as international level.
The Tapestry series of photographs are samples of "textiles" that are created from manipulated imagery found in the media. The patterned image is beautifully provocative, creating a tension and contrast with the subject matter, which includes photographs of tragedy and catastrophe, religious and political conflict, the multiple sides of protest, and the contradictions of our financial crisis. The photographs are appropriated from the New York Times and online media sites, scanned and manipulated by inverting, mirroring, repeating and patterning to create a complex visual fabric. The process exaggerates the historic treatment of documentary photographs as well as the current manipulation and censorship that exists in our society. The textile samples are printed on a highly glossy substrate that references early Cibachrome with strong ties to advertisement and commercial production.
1. Botox Purse with Beaded Handles
In Quest for Wrinkle-Free Future,
Frown Becomes thing of the Past
February 7, 2002, Newspaper, Rives BFK, wire,
4x6
2. Kabul Saddlebag
U.S. Embassy in Kabul is destroyed by Protesters.
September 27, 2001, Materials: Newspaper, Rives BFK, 8x11x2
3. Ciudad Juarez Bag
Wave of Women's Killings Confound Juarez
December 10, 2002 / 2003, Materials: Newspaper, Wire, Rives BFK, silk thread
4. Hollywood Convertible Clutch With Chain Handle
A midair smashup in "Live Free or Die Hard"…the gasping, grunting and oozing hard-body slab that muscles, and sometimes crawls
June 27, 2007 / 2008, Materials: Newspaper, Rives BFK
5. Wabasha Woven Baguette With Extra Wide Strap
Flooded Out in Minnesota, Isolated by High Water
March 19, 2001, 4 1⁄4 x 131⁄2 x 1 1⁄2 inches
6. NM - 14 (Nairobi - Moore) Noé
A woman tried to shelter children from gunfire at the Westgate mall. The Shabab, a Somali militantgroup…were responsible for the attack / James Akin, 12, outside his home after the devastating tornado.
September 21 & May 22 2013 / 2014, materials: newspaper, Rives BFK, 10 x 9 ½ x 5"
7. Idlib Medium Woven Boy Flap Bag
Hundreds of Syrians were killed in a chemical weapons attack /…weapons factory of the Free Syrian Army
August 21, 2013 / 2014, materials: newspaper, Rives BFK, 9 ¾ x 5 ½ x 2 ¾ "
8. Typhoon Haiyan Micro Luggage Bag
After Typhoon Haiyan…a view of devastation on a rural landscape from United States Navy Helicopters
November 18, 2013 / 2014, materials: newspaper, Rives BFK, 10 x 10 x 6"
9. Very Sexy Babydoll I
US soldiers arriving from Afghanistan sit inside a plane at the US airbase.
February 26, 2009 /2009, Materials: Archival inkjet on Gampi Tissue, Size 8
10. Halter Teddy With Suicide Belt
Kidnapping, Beheadings, and Defining What’s News (The Secret Islamic Army: there is no god but Allah, Mohammed is the messenger of Allah.)
Sunday, August 1, 2004 / 2005, Materials: Archival inkjet on Gampi Tissue, Size 8
11. Lace Apron Babydoll
The Yearing for Zion Ranch, a polygamist compound
April 12, 2008/2008, Materials: archival inkjet on Japanese tissue, Size 8
12. Lace Slip
Thousands of supporters of Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wave national and other coloured flags during a massive rally to celebrate his victory in the presidential elections in Tehran's Valiasr square…/ Iranian opposition demonstrators protest in support of defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, in Tehran. Opposition supporters defied a ban to stage a mass rally in Tehran in protest at President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide election win
June 14, 2009 & June 15, 2009 / 2009
13. Bushmaster String Bikini I
Olivia's Painting / All of the 5.56 mm shell casings recovered at Sandy Hook Elementary school were found to have been fired from this Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle, which was found on the floor of Room 10 after the shooting spree.
December 14, 2012/2014, Materials: archival inkjet on Japanese Tissue, Size 8
14. Bushmaster String Bikini III
Olivia's Painting / All of the 5.56 mm shell casings recovered at Sandy Hook Elementary school were found to have been fired from this Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle, which was found on the floor of Room 10 after the shooting spree.
December 14, 2012/2014, Materials: archival inkjet on Japanese Tissue, Size 8
15. Window Print String Bikini
Sandy Hook Elementary windows (Photo archived by Gary Jeanfaivre/Newton Patch)
2012/2014, Materials: archival inkjet on Japanese Tissue, Size 8
16. Halter Bikini (Bullet)
A clip of .50 calibre rounds are stacked ready for use at Combat Outpost Pirtle-King in Afghanistan's Kunar Province
June 6, 2012/2014, Materials: archival inkjet on Japanese Tissue, Size 8
17. Installation View: Window Display On Rack
Cheryl Yun Collection: Lingerie and Swimwear
“Pretty Things,” Artspace, New Haven
18. Untitled (Textile Tapestry Series: Oil + Water II)
Clumps of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill splash in the surf on a beach in Gulf Shores
June 4, 2010/ 2011, 30 x 30 inches, Material: Fujiflex hi-gloss digital c-print
19. Untitled (Textile Tapestry Series: )
Adding Sweeteners, Senate Pushes Bailout Plan
October 1, 2008 / 2009, 30 x 30 inches, Material: Fujiflex hi-gloss digital c-print
20. Untitled (Textile Tapestry Series: Fort Myers III)
A partly developed, now partly overgrown neighborhood north of Lehigh Acres, Florida
2011, 30 x 30 inches, Material: Fujiflex hi-gloss digital c-print
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