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Linear Obscurity features new works by New Delhi-based artist M. Pravat and New York-based artist Heeseop Yoon. The works of both artists possess a decidedly powerful combination of order and disorder. In his newest paintings, Pravat has focused on architectural floorplans obscured by a blend of organic and geometric shapes that simultaneously give depth and body to the seemingly unrealized plans that lie underneath. Yoon's drawings on paper as well as tape and mylar drawing constructions present freehand depictions of basements, workshops, and storage spaces filled with precarious piles of abandoned objects. The pairing of disheveled organizational structures in Pravat's paintings with obsessive but purposeful reiterations of unorganized towers of detritus in Yoon's drawings and installations presents a frenetic sense of balance in the space.
The conceptual impetus of Heeseop Yoon's work is the memory and perception of cluttered space. Yoon unearths these cluttered spaces wherever she goes. After photographing the scenes she begins to recreate the images by hand, be it in ink on paper, tape, or cut shapes of mylar. Throughout this process the artist makes no erasures but merely corrects the lines with additional lines. She says,
"As I correct 'mistakes' the work results in double or multiple lines, which reflect how my perception has changed over time and makes me question my initial perception. Paradoxically, greater concentration and more lines make the drawn objects less clear. The more I see, the less I believe in the accuracy or reality of the images I draw."
This artistic practice emphasizes the manipulation of memory as well as the often paradoxical consequence of efforts made to clarify a perception ultimately obscuring the representation of a certain memory or idea. Pravat's images can be seen to convey a message of art overcoming order with spilled and overlaying painted forms on top of architectural drawings; this leads one to question if the plans are cluttered with the accoutremal of physical realization or obscured by images of neglect and lost intention. Yoon's images are able to communicate the possibility for detailed artistic representations of the slow accumulation of carelessly strewn personal items in storage. In both cases a memory of intention is obscured by the accumulation of development.
M. Pravat was born in Kolkata in 1972. He received both a Bachelor (2002) and Master (2004) of Fine Arts in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University in Baroda, India. He has had two solo exhibitions at Anant Art Gallery in New Delhi as well as Art Musings in Mumbai. Pravat's recent solo exhibition at the Nature Morte Annex in New Delhi was received with high regard. This exhibition at Bose Pacia marks the artist's first exhibition in New York. M. Pravat lives and works in New Delhi.
Heeseop Yoon was born in Seoul, Korea in 1976. After completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts (1999) at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, she went on to receive a Master of Fine Arts (2004) at The City College, City University of New York in New York City. Yoon has also participated in the prestigious Skowhegan Painting and Sculpture program (2005). The artist has exhibited widely in New York City as well as Seoul. This exhibition marks her first participation with Bose Pacia in New York. Heeseop Yoon lives and works in New York City.