Reflection on Jason Yi's Work

I really enjoyed Jason Yi's perspective on space and the different forms it can take. He discussed space both physically with his 3D work and culturally (nationally? domestically?) with his 2D photographs of him and his parents in different settings as well as the video of his parents telling their life stories superimposed over each other. What interested me most about his presentation of space was an idea of precariousness that he incorporates into his work and the idea that if one piece were removed from a sculpture, the whole thing might collapse.

"Terraform" Wriston Art Center, Lawrence University

I also feel that there is a lot of movement in his work. "Terraform," for example, almost seems to be wiggling, and again it has that feeling of precariousness, like it might just topple over at any second. I noticed some similarities between his art and those of kinetic artists like Gego and Jesús Rafael Soto.

"Reticularea" Gego

"Penetrable" Soto

"A Fragile Permanence" Jason Yi

They share the use of line to define space and creating a 3D structure that kind of looms around the viewer. I wonder if Jason would consider himself a kinetic artist at all, even more so because of his forays into videomaking. Either way, his exploration of space through many different media is intriguing.