It’s a blast. You’re welcome

‘Coleen still waits for the bus’, Lucie Sahner

It’s a blast. You’re welcome.

Yang-ha,  Alexandra Subota,  Lucie Sahner  

Working period: 3 to 22 January 2022
Exhibition period: January 22 to February 20, 2022

FINISSAGE: 20th of February 3-6 pm.
With Oysters, Seaweed & white wine. It’s a blast. You’re welcome.

for tekst ‘The Human Condition is a Constant’ by Vanesa Evgenieva Miteva, about ‘It’s a blast, You’re welcome!” see https://sign2.nl/websign/publicaties/news-its-a-blast-youre-welcome/

Yang-ha, Alexandra Subota, Lucie Sahner create their own worlds in the space of SIGN. After a working period their wall constellations, installations 2d & 3d combinations, will be part of strong visual settings of ‘It’s a blast, you’re welcome’. The exhibition is dealing about the paradox of daily life and the human condition. Fragile illusions, superficial temptation, cover-ups and transformations are also reflected in the use of ‘doubting” materials.

  Alexandra Subota creates objects & installations and uses neon colors, fluff, glitter and shiny surfaces. With playfulness and irony, she is engaged in the pursuit of desires such as pleasure, fun and freedom, although accompanied by the disappointments of the banal, daily life. Subota coats gloom with layers of glossy, cheerful sweetness, surrounding violence with cynical cuteness.

In Yang-ha‘s art everything seems okay at first, but at the same time she shows in a lovely vocabulary the underlying contradictory tragedies. In her words:  ”in this not-fine time this is only a place were I can be fine from the outside” . Her work is influenced bij her living environment and personal history. Yang-ha elaborates her universe as a reflection on herself.

Lucie Sahner works between processes of transformation and change of the human body within a non-human-centric worldview. Through sculpture, installation and prose, Sahner plays with an expansion and detachment from body boundaries, often employing natural materials with corporeal connotations such as gelatine, wax, cream and latex.

(Nederlands)

Yang-ha, Alexandra Subota, Lucie Sahner creëren hun eigen werelden in de ruimte van SIGN. Na een werkperiode zullen hun wandconstellaties, installaties 2d & 3d combinaties, deel uitmaken van sterke visuele settings bij ‘It’s a blast, you’re welcome’. De tentoonstelling gaat over de paradox van het dagelijks leven en de menselijke conditie. Breekbare illusies, oppervlakkige verleiding, cover-ups en transformaties komen ook tot uiting in het gebruik van ‘twijfelende’ materialen.

Alexandra Subota maakt objecten & installaties en gebruikt neonkleuren, fluffs, glitter en glanzende oppervlakken. Met speelsheid en ironie houdt ze zich bezig met het najagen van verlangens als pret en vrijheid, zij het dat dit gepaard gaat met de teleurstellingen van het banale, dagelijkse leven. Subota bedekt somberheid met een laag glanzende, vrolijke zoetheid, en omringend geweld met cynische schattigheid.

In Yang-ha‘s kunst lijkt alles in eerste instantie in orde, maar tegelijkertijd toont ze in een lieftallige vocabulaire de onderliggende tegenstrijdige tragedies. In haar woorden:
“in deze niet-fijne tijd is dit alleen een plek waar ik me goed kan voelen van buitenaf”
Haar werk wordt beïnvloed door haar leefomgeving en persoonlijke geschiedenis. Yang-ha werkt haar universum uit als een reflectie op zichzelf.

Lucie Sahner is geïnteresseerd in processen van transformatie en verandering van het menselijk lichaam binnen een niet-mensgericht wereldbeeld. Door middel van sculpturen, installatie en proza speelt Sahner met een verruiming en onthechting van lichaamsgrenzen, waarbij zij vaak gebruik maakt van natuurlijke materialen met lichamelijke connotaties zoals gelatine, was, room en latex.

Lucie Sahner statement:
Lucie Sahner (1986 in Völklingen) is an artist and nurse working between processes of transformation and change of the human body within a non-human-centric worldview. Through sculpture, installation and prose, Sahner plays with an expansion and detachment from body boundaries, often employing natural materials with corporeal connotations such as gelatine, wax, cream and latex.
The installation – a human figure leaning forward, kept from falling-over by a large latex tube which pulls backwards from the head – continues a series of works in which Lucie Sahner reflects upon the transformations in which our bodies take part. A central material component in this series of works is latex: A substance of organic origin, obtained from trees by cutting their bark, it is processed to a variety of forms which serve human needs. Such transformations of physical matter of non-human origin are what sustains human life. But despite our absolute dependance on a global-scale metabolism into which we feed every available material, we still like to think in oppositions of self and other. This way, we feel as though we’re able to hold on to ourselves, to preserve a relatively constant form amidst the all-consuming transformations, and all that upholds us stays external. Still, what we draw from also pulls on us.

Statement Yang-ha
I collect images from history and use them to tell my own stories on flat surfaces. As a young woman, I find the world being full of contradictory tragedies that I cannot comprehend. In order to understand conflicts, I look at close figures – my grandmother and mother- and try to construct a bridge between myself and these two women. My grandmother lived through the colonial era and the Korean War, and my mother faced conventional opposition to her dreams. I apologize and adore them as a woman and a daughter. As the next generation, I elaborate my universe as a reflection of myself. I look for lovely vocabulary between drawings and paintings. My thin and temporary painting gestures are aimed at the society wherein I live. This brings out my sarcasm attitude. My voluntary errors in the works are a prayer for a better life.
My works have been linked to propaganda art and animations. At the beginning of my research, the color palette was based on North Korean core colors that represented simplicity, and communism sensibility. When I moved to the Netherlands, my hues became soft, with thin surfaces and transparent colors, all of which are characteristics of communism propaganda. Another reference is traditional animation, which uses simple and clumsy vocabulary while depicting society’s darker aspects. It has a sense of sarcasm, which is akin to my artistic work as a young person to understand the world. Cartoony and adorable features such as clouds, explosions, and teddy bears are used to symbolize it.
My first interest was the mass game performance demanded of past generations to legitimize and consolidate tyranny. It developed in searching for ways to create vulnerable creatures that could reflect my own generation. The current practice is based on working on a mixture of weeping Maria and explosions. I wondered what kind of images are possible to pass through my Christian heritage while living in this uncertain society. As a result, in reaction to the ideal woman, Maria, I developed a new icon. I portray her expression as angry rather than neutral, which may indicate my considerations. This strategy is an attempt to comprehend the tragedy as well as a new definition for moving forward in life.

Statement Alexandra Subota
Fascinated by the paradox of daily life, Alexandra creates two and three-dimensional mixed-media works, characterized by neon colors, uff, glitter and shiny surfaces. With playfulness and irony, she is engaged in the pursuit of desires such as pleasure, fun and freedom, although their quest is inevitably accompanied by the disappointments of the banal, daily life. Aware of how fragile illusions are, Subota coats gloom with layers of glossy, cheerful sweetness, surrounding violence with cynical cuteness.
“At SIGN: I want to work with my interpretation of a wonderland (luilekkerland). When I think of an utopian place, I think of warmth, softness and bright colours. A peaceful place to escape the contrary – urban cities being a place dominated by greyness, cold and strict shapes, appearing in concrete buildings, asphalted streets, grey skies and tired faces.
I am going to use mainly soft polyurethane foam and modelling paste to create abstract and figurative three-dimensional objects which will visually interact with each other.
As a “leading piece” I will build two palm trees, approximately 2,5 meter high. The basic shape of the palm trees will be first constructed out of wood. As soon as the basic construction is done I will cover them with soft polyurethane foam and tinsel… Next to the palm trees, I maybe want to create abstract, roundish objects which I will cover with soft polyurethane foam and layers of cream made out of modelling paste. These objects I will give them a candy and food-related appearance. Some of them will be placed on the walls and in the space or could be placed in the window space as well.
Working in an experimental manner, the final outcome of the works is not predetermined yet. The appearance of the objects has the freedom of evolving during the creative process.”