Rachel Youn

Rachel Youn. Courtesy of the artist

Rachel Youn, ‘Ceremony’, 2023, riding exercise simulator, wood, steel, plastic spikes, artificial plants, 101.6 x 91.4 x 81.3 cm (40 x 26 x 32 in). Photo: Nik Massey. Courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery, Los Angeles

Rachel Youn, ‘Discipline’, 2023, percussion massager, artificial orchids, mdf, arduino, servo motor, acrylic paint, modeling foam, exfoliating washcloths, hitching rings, 114.3 x 83.8 x 40.6 cm (45 x 33 x 16 in). Photo: Nik Massey. Courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery, Los Angeles

Rachel Youn, ‘Fixus’, 2022, shiatsu massager, artificial flower, steel, 109.2 x 40.6 x 45.7 cm (43 x 16 x 18 in). Courtesy of the artist and Sargent's Daughters, New York

Rachel Youn, ‘Voluptuous’, 2022, shiatsu massager, artificial flowers, hand-grip exerciser, 83.8 x 60,9 x 30.5 cm (33 x 24 x 12 in). Courtesy of the artist and Sargent's Daughters, New York

Biography
Rachel Youn (b. 1994, lives and works in St. Louis) works across sculpture and installation through sourcing materials with a history of aspiration and failure through online second-hand shopping. Youn rescues electric massagers from suburban limbo, fastening artificial plants to the machines to create clumsy, erotic, and absurd kinetic sculptures. Haunted by their immigrant father’s pursuit of the American dream, their work identifies with the replica that earnestly desires to be real, and the failed object that simulates care and intimacy. Their solo recent exhibitions have taken place at Night Gallery, Los Angeles (2023), Sargent’s Daughters, New York (2022), Soy Capitán, Berlin (2022), Bruno David Gallery, Clayton (2021), and Great Rivers Biennial, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (2020). They have participated in group exhibitions at Aranya Art Centre, Beidaihe (2023), Brutus, Rotterdam (2023), Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome (2022), Galerie du Monde, Central, Hong Kong (2022), Wassaic Project, Wassaic, New York (2021), and HAIR + Nails, Minneapolis (2020). They received their BFA from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Youn is currently an MFA candidate at the Yale School of Art, New Haven.

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Exhibitions
The Last Laugh
Artists: Sarah Fripon, Adéla Janská, Min Jia, Alicja Pakosz, Rachel Youn
Hong Kong
18 May—06 July 2024

PODIUM

Unit 9D, E Tat Factory Building,
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