Libby Leshgold Gallery

READ Books is pleased to be hosting a book launch for Information Office on the occasion of their forthcoming publication Black Book by artist Hyung-Min Yoon. The artist’s book joins two distinct threads of disparate cultures and histories — Confucian virtues and black humour — inquiring into contemporary ideologies such as patriarchy and technological determinism. Yoon will be signing copies from 3-5pm, with refreshments available at READ Books.


The illustrations in Black Book are borrowed from a 15th century Confucian text titled Illustrated Conduct of the Three Bonds. The woodblock print book was first published in 1431 by the royal dynasty of the time, as part of an effort to disseminate Confucian principles throughout the kingdom. In the years that followed its appearance, the book was subsequently restructured and reprinted numerous times throughout the Joseon period. Black Book draws primarily from a specific edition now housed at the National Library of Korea, the exact publication date of which is unknown. The majority of the images in Black Book are appropriated from the volume called Virtuous Women.


The original jests and cartoon effects in Black Book were collected from various online sources, literary texts, or in some cases by word of mouth. Some are unaltered, but many have been edited to reflect or invoke a more contemporary context. True to the form of black humour, present interpretations belong to the audience.



Hyung-Min Yoon is a visual artist working between Vancouver, Canada and Seoul, Korea. She received her BFA at the Korea National University of the Arts and her MFA at Chelsea College of Art & Design in London. Her research and text-based art practice draws inspiration from literature and early art history. Through installation, photography, video and print, her gestures reveal the ambiguities and contradictions that lay hidden in processes of translation and the construction of meaning. In recent years, her investigations have included the role that technologies have played in the spread of ideologies through time. Previous to Black Book, Yoon’s hand-printed artist book The Book of Jests was the first in the series on the subject.


yoonhyungmin.com



Information Office is a design and art services company based in Vancouver, Canada. The office develops identity programs, books, publications, packaging, exhibition design, signage systems, websites, and media applications for clients in the cultural sector. Information Office places special emphasis on its art publishing. We offer a suite of integrated services from conceptualization, design, editing, printing and promotion of publications.


i-o.cc



The Black Book book launch is presented as part of Vancouver Art Book Week.


#VABFArtBookWeek

book image

print / email