Story of a Global Nomad (De Vonk 1)

Jinny Yu (b. 1976)
Jinny Yu is an Ottawa-based conceptual artist, whose artistic practice consists primarily of painting self-portraits in the extended sense of the term, as an attempt to understand the world around her. Her work oscillates between abstraction and object. She is known for reaching beyond painting and the pictorial space, scrutinizing the conventions of painting to reveal new possibilities within the medium. By striving to depict that which is beyond the image, Yu reveals the gestural and socio-political aspect of painting itself. Frequently painting with oil on aluminum, her key artistic references include Kazimir Malevich, Blink Palermo, Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica.

Born in Seoul, Republic of Korea, Yu emigrated to Montreal at the age of 12 and obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University in 1998. She obtained a Master of Fine Arts and a Master of Business Administration from York University in 2002.

Her work has been shown widely, including exhibitions in Canada, Germany, Japan, Italy, Portugal, Republic of Korea, UK and USA. Yu was selected to exhibit her work at the 56th Venice Biennale. She is represented in private and public collections in Canada including the Ottawa Art Gallery, the City of Ottawa, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre and Confederation Centre Art Gallery. Yu was awarded the Mid-Career Artist Award by Ottawa Arts Council in 2013, and the Laura Ciruls Painting Award from Ontario Arts Foundation in 2012.