RUBY YOO
I explore the relationship between isolation, escapism, and art in today’s digital age. What makes someone seek life in fiction, through the screen and in pixels? The pursuit of distraction and comfort via digital media drives many to self-isolate—some for a lifetime. And yet, these stories and creations that serve as unconditional companions can also be considered works of art. Like the often-solitary practice of artists, I find the social isolation of new media compelling. To exist in such a state is a contradiction itself: to be simultaneously connected to the world and not.
Growing up with the rise of digital media, it feels like some part of me has never grown out of living in these virtual worlds. These experiences have made me. The websites, games, and characters that defined my childhood have become some of my most lasting friends and mentors. What I create delves into those digitized experiences, forging work that realizes what was once imaginary. Life within a screen, spilling out. Friends, connected only through a fictional intermediary. A dissociating attachment to what feels safe.
Using oil paint and canvas, I mix digital languages with imagery from the art-historical canon. I force what was once an escape into reality, and sit with it. In paint, I build a home for the characters, stories, and feelings we consider secondary. Through my paintings, they become real. What has existed on the screen, in my mind, and in my own room, now exists in the here and now. I make art that I want to exist.
But where can we go?, 2023. Oil paint. 35in x 40in.
Bed rot, 2024. Oil paint. 35in x 36in.