Moorpark College Art Gallery
7075 Campus Road, Administration Building
Moorpark, CA 93021

February 27 – April 7, 2015

Artist Lecture:
March 12th, 11am
Technology Building, Room 105

Gallery Hours:
Monday – Thursday 9a – 9p
Friday 8a – noon

From 2007 to 2014, Andre Yi has created drawings, sculptures, and collages about his home state of California. From Giant Sequoias, to dead birds washed ashore at Half Moon Bay, and birds nests inspired by the hodge podge post-­modern architecture of Los Angeles; Yi’s work is informed by the contradictions embodied in the California landscape, in particular, the urban/rural interface. Using a precise technique, Yi makes collages and sculptures using cast off materials that can be found in the studio and around his home: tape, twigs, paper trimmings, faux painted balsa wood, pencil shavings, and paint scrapings. Yi depicts the natural in an almost “too perfect” manner that is inspired by how humankind preserves and interacts with nature. For example, the National Park Service simulates the natural ecosystem of Sequoia National Park by using controlled burns. Clear decisions are made that preserve popular landmarks while less visited sections of the park are burned to maintain ecological balance. If left on it’s own, even the iconic parts of the parks would eventually burn. This careful ‘manicure’ of the parks affect how we see nature, creating a hierarchy of the most beautiful and coveted. In his carefully composed works, Yi mimics this artificial “natural”. The urban/rural interface sometimes has casualties. In 2009 hundreds of dead birds were found washed ashore from Marin County to Monterey Bay. Typically dead birds are found when water is contaminated by bacteria from human and animal waste that can be found in the runoffs of city drains. By juxtaposing his interest in architecture and nests with the carcasses of dead birds, Yi’s collages offer a poetic analysis of these deaths, the bodies become microcosms of the urban/rural interface. Ultimately Yi’s work is a rumination on balance and coexistence, the evolving landscapes and ecosystems of California, and the notion of preservation: be it a scenic vista in a National Park, or the carefully reconstructed carcass of a seemingly unimportant bird.