Employing the formal study of composition, colour and line, Mark Yang creates large-scale paintings that depict interwoven nude male bodies, addressing his identity as an immigrant, Korean-American man. The maze of faceless, tubular limbs painted in striking combinations of bright colours show men wrestling – or embracing – in impossible, entangled proximity. Subverting notions of masculinity, Yang alludes to male intimacy being more common in Korean culture than that of the West. Remininist of the legacy of artists such as Eakins, Bacon and Mapplethorpe, as well as the imagery of Ancient Greece, Yang’s practice navigates questions of gender, ethnicity and migration through psychologically-charged, dizzying canvases of ambiguous bodies, blurring the line between aggression and intimacy.
Written by Goldsmiths CCA ...
