Hiejin Yoo Prints

Korean-German, b. 1987

Hiejin Yoo’s diaristic oil paintings focus on mundane yet intimate moments from everyday life. Tightly cropped body parts animate her figurative portraits, suggesting a faceless protagonist that could very well be the viewer. Yoo received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles, and she has exhibited widely in Los Angeles and New York City. In 2019, she had a solo presentation at the Marfa International. Influenced by Henri Matisse’s abstracted forms and use of color to direct the eye, Yoo foregrounds color; she frequently uses white to outline hands and legs. Her images, which are drawn from her personal life, hint at traces of memories and innermost secrets.