Min Jung-Yeon

In 2006, Pluto was excluded from the solar system and was downgraded to the status of “dwarf planet” because of its mass and its volume, both too little, and a “deviant” trajectory. The first images of Pluto sent by the New Horizons probe (2015) revealed a surface partly covered in methane and nitrogen ice, which, at one spot, was shaped like a heart. Min Jung-Yeon was inspired by the symbolism of this rejection of a small different planet with a heart of ice.

Thus, Pluto’s letter explores the notion of reconciliation with loss, integration of what escapes our understanding, of other viewpoints and assessments. This desire for balance despite differences, for cohesion in spite of contrasts, finds its pictorial expression in the artist’s new works. A third dimension, that one of a denser and rougher matter, has recently appeared and dialogs with the extremely fine and precise strokes (that were) already present in her earlier works. The color is used sparingly in a palette where soft and light tones as well as Indian ink black dominate.