Yi Gallery is delighted to present Inner Space, an exhibition of recent neon sculptures and drawings by Brooklyn-based artist Annesta Le. A full-color catalog will accompany the exhibition with a text by David Ebony. This will be the first artist exhibition presented in the gallery’s new space located inside the 56 Bogart Street art building in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
The exhibition includes two of Le’s previously unexhibited floating neon structures, alongside three marker drawings, and a group of neon on wood panels. The neon on wood panels were made thanks to the Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant, which Le was awarded in 2017. She conceived the works early on but was not able to realize them until 2019. During this time, Le went through a significant physical transformation, which profoundly changed the way she views her body, herself, and womanhood. In 2019, Le returned to the studio and established a drawing routine, which created a pictorial practice that intersects with her more known and vibrant neon work. Whether sculpting, painting, or drawing, she uses her hands and approaches each piece in an open-ended, improvisational way until arriving at the final composition - a work reflecting her own internal image. Underlying themes in her work are psychological and explore the Jungian ideas of the self, shadow, and individuation. These ideas helped her find power and self through her art.
Inspired by how light can affect an atmosphere and create a mood, Le utilizes neon in a non-pictorial way. Le handmakes all her neon-related works at a glass studio in Brooklyn and completes the compositions later in her studio. Krypton is rarely used in the retail application of neon, but Le uses the noble gas for its subtle and gentle aesthetic qualities. Glass, a hard yet fragile material, links to the psychological feeling of being exposed and vulnerable. Le forms tight and fluid angles while heating the glass tubes over the flame of a ribbon burner, and it becomes an extension of her limbs and thoughts. Le approaches each piece organically, and the result is a reflection of her inner space captured in physical form. Le’s art is dynamic in its creation - an open, experimental, unpredictable method, balancing the intentional and unintentional.
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