FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Yang SoonYeal

Epic Tales

September 12 – November 15, 2026

Venice, Italy

BAAHNG PROJECTS is pleased to present Epic Tales, curated by Jennifer Baahng, the first major solo exhibition in Venice by South Korean artist Yang SoonYeal. Set within the historic State Rooms of the Sovrano Militare Ordine di Malta, the exhibition offers a strategic immersion at the intersection of the domestic subconscious and the infinite cosmos. As an independent parallel program to the 61st Venice Biennale, the installation serves as a metaphysical crucible, probing the friction between historical gravity and future suspension. The exhibition inquires into intersubjectivity, specifically the profound emotional and psychological resonance between the human condition and the primordial environment. Epic Tales enters the global discourse on metamorphosis, inviting a definitive Surrealist journey through the cosmic maternal.

Yang Soonyeal’s oeuvre reconfigures the progenitor archetype within a rigorous humanist framework, positioning the biological impulse to care as a sophisticated ethical response to contemporary existential fragmentation. Her practice operates at the intersection of monumental surrealism and ontological inquiry, moving beyond cultural specificity to address the universal tension between human interiority and cosmic vastness. The Elysium Series functions as a conceptual threshold—a portal into a subconscious landscape of transcendence. Within this metaphysical space, the OTTOGI serves as a structural anchor. Rather than a mere symbol of resilience, it acts as a gyroscope for the psyche, providing the equilibrium needed to navigate the gravity of internal descent.

The Architecture of Resilience

At the heart of the exhibition are the OTTOGI—large-scale, ovoid figures finished in high-gloss automotive lacquer. Yang transforms the traditional Korean oddugi, a roly-poly toy, into a clinical archetype of structural resilience. In Venice’s shifting light, these sleek, vibrant forms serve as grounding anchors, embodying the life force that sustains equilibrium in a dreamlike reality.

The Prismatic Aperture

Surrounding the sculptures is The Elysium Series—mirrors housed in salvaged classical frames, unified by a monochromatic black finish. In Yang’s hands, the mirror is stripped of vanity and repositioned as a “Teum”—a tactical portal to another dimension. Through mixed media, including graphite, charcoal, and reflective resins, these mirror paintings dissolve the viewer’s reflection into cosmic nebulae and spiritual landscapes.

Epic Tales orchestrates a sophisticated spatial dialogue between Yang’s monolithic sculptures and her specular interventions, synthesizing a site-specific “temple” that interrogates the temporal friction between historical gravity and future suspension. At the center of this inquiry is the OTTOGI, re-contextualized not as a folk object but as a formalist study in equilibrium. These monumental volumes serve as an ontological anchor, their structural persistence a counterweight to the Elysium Series. In the latter, Yang SoonYeal uses the mirror as a medium of phenomenological disruption, dissolving the boundary between the viewer’s physical reality and a fractured, surrealist interiority. The interplay between the murals’ solid mass and the mirror’s liminal presence creates a curated heterotopia. Here, the exhibition functions as a metaphysical crucible, challenging the observer to reconcile the atavistic weight of human history with the incorporeal weightlessness of an impending, digitized future.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Yang SoonYeal (b. 1959, South Korea) maintains a multidisciplinary practice spanning painting, sculpture, and performance, dedicated to exploring the cyclical nature of genesis and dissolution. Yang’s work functions as a phenomenological bridge, synthesizing traditional motifs with a contemporary surrealist vernacular. By leveraging monumental scale and specular surfaces, she creates immersive environments that prompt confrontation with transience and permanence. Her institutional presence, including the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art and the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, underscores her role in elevating local cultural signifiers into a universalist humanist discourse.

UPCOMING 

POISE AND PUNCHLINE

September 11 – November 7, 2026

Venice, Italy

POISE AND PUNCHLINE presents a polyphonic exploration of contemporary Korean aesthetics through seven distinct artistic voices, each a master of their own narrative. The exhibition responds to the 61st La Biennale di Venezia’s overarching theme, In Minor Keys, by examining the interplay between Gyeok-jo (dignified restraint) and Hae-hak (subversive wit). Exploring the “K-Core”—a deep-rooted philosophical foundation of Korean art, the resilient, lower-frequency philosophies that underpin Korean creative persistence—the featured artists, working across sculpture, installation, and painting, demonstrate how humor and refinement are not opposites but unified tools for social critique and emotional resonance. These South Korean artists maintain a sovereign poise while delivering a punchline that is a vital challenge and contribution to the discourse of global contemporary art.