The Art
Blossom Tree
This work is sold
A special commission from a Swiss company to represent the foundation of their business
The trunk of any enterprise is the foundation on which success will build. Throughout any evolution there are links formed, people ebb and flow. This new work by Young, commissioned specially to represent the collaboration a small team envisages depicts the coming together of outside connections from all the colours of life and the joining of interests to in the blue circles form partnerships however short a time period with varying outcomes where there are overlapping ideas. Passion and enthusiasm are represented by the bright sunflowers that burst out from the tree. The red flowers and leaves flowing with success and the resulting benefit, both financial and fulfilling, is shown in the green leaves as they slowly build the enterprise.
Stone Man
The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realise their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realise that at the centre of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka , and that this centre is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.
Black Elk, The Sacred Pipe (1953)
Acrylic on canvas
1000 x 1000mm.
March 2015
Life's Path
Young has always been drawn to the elders in our society, she likes to look at the old faces etched with the trials and tribulations that strike us through life. In Korea, Young’s home country, a culture of respect for the elderly exists, something that is rare in today’s world. The title of this work is how Young still sees the elderly, Still Beautiful… just the way they are. The painting expressed in strong lines both in the background and on the two faces of Grandma and Grandpa reflect the life paths lived by these elders and the world around them. A stunning work with Grandma being painted primarily in pink and white only. If you are one of these elders, you are Still Beautiful…
Acrylic on canvas
500 x 1500mm.
January 2015
Boy hiding his Pain
This work painted at the start of 2015, is one of Young’s most expressive canvases to-date. The style in which this is painted began a new style for Young, the light use of large, long brush strokes create a dramatic effect that is visually stunning. The painting shows two of life’s aspects that are often carried with us. This use of underlying red and burnt sienna on the left side of the face representing the hidden pain that many children carry inside them but often never show to the outside world, not even once they reach adulthood, the right hand side of yellow and white over blue is the cold expressionless mask that he shows to the outside world. We can also see on the left side the damage inflicted through the use of scratches and scars. The third dimension to the piece is the background, something often missed in art work , this shows the internal wishes of how the boy would have liked his world to be.
Acrylic on canvas
1000 x 1400mm.
Jan 2015
Tiger and Bamboo
In historical art, particularly in Korea, the Tiger was often painted and was regarded as a guardian that drives away evil spirit and a sacred creature that brings good luck – the symbol of courage and absolute power. The oldest historical record about the tiger can be found in the myth of Dangun, the legendary founding father of Gojoseon, told in the Samguk Yusa, or the Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms. Although it is a sacred creature that doesn’t harm people, it becomes angry when the ruler of the country conducts evil and inhumane deeds. In this canvas, we can see the huge strength in the Tiger's shoulder, mirroring the primary meaning of the tiger spirit animal, which is willpower, personal strength and courage. Combined with Bamboo, which remains green throughout the four seasons and therefore symbolises long life. It bends rather than breaks, thus bamboo also represents resilience, and its simple shape, humility.
Acrylic on canvas
1200 x 400mm.
October 2014
Dancing Cherry in Spring
This work is sold
The weather in spring brings forth thoughts of bright skies, strong breezes and changeable times. In this work of a cherry tree with petals blowing in the wind, the colours mirror the feelings as the season moves out of the cold of winter into the lightness that is spring. In spring, the trees look like they are dancing with the wind and sun in the same way that our hearts often feels like dancing in spring.
The canvas colours of white and blue with spring cherry petals drifting like pink rain feel like the fresh new thoughts and feelings of love that occur in spring. People feel warm with this mono pink colour and the colours flow with the cherry flowers, the wind and emotions. The dark colour of the bare tree bark defining the end of the cold winter.
Acrylic on canvas
1000 x 1200mm.
April 2014
City Aura Energy
This bright and energetic painting has much hidden truth about how we feel when living in the big cities of the world. Every city at night has beautiful bright lights, the colourful tall buildings reflecting this in the canvas. The people moving around this city landscape all mingle and merge their energy, shown in the blue and white above the city scape, raising the energy levels and thus attracting even more to this area, this is then covered by the dark pink that surrounds the whole area giving the city its aura. However, as in all cities, there is a hidden darker side, here in the lower half of the canvas we can see this underworld where many of the lonely manage to survive but they have can still see the bright lights sometimes giving them hope to ascend and escape back to the shining safety.
Acrylic on canvas
1400 x 1000mm.
March 2014
Invisible
Continuing the style developed in 'Full of Autumn Feeling' but with a change of theme, this piece portrays a feeling that is felt by many but usually unspoken for its sense of belittlement. The flower colours typical of late summer, in purples, pale blues with dark green leaves describe the world around us. The hidden face feeling as though no one is interested to talk or notice them, just wants to merge into the background and disappear into the unnoticed oblivion. This feeling of being unwanted and unnoticed is felt by many in our society today. Those of us who are outstanding have no sense of what this feeling emotes. The painting is emotionally very strong – a truly outstanding work. Most observers do not notice the person in the painting at first, just as when people in a group do not notice the unnoticed, but once the vision is revealed to the observer, just as when someone gets to know the true person inside, a totally different view is presented.
Acrylic on canvas
1000 x 1000mm.
October 2013
Full of Autumn Feeling
This work is sold
A new technique developed by Young depicting the change that occurs in autumn as all the leaves that were green suddenly change to the beautiful reds, yellows and browns that we all know and love as autumn falls. This piece, depicting a field of autumn leaves delivers the true sense of colour that we see in autumn. One cannot help but be attracted to the vibrant colours and the romantic feelings of attraction that this develops, the close knitted intermingled leaves makes us want to look closely at the detail just as one does when one picks up a single leaf from a bed of autumn colour found in a typical English beech wood.
Acrylic on canvas
1000 x 1000mm.
September 2013
A Complicated Girl's Mind
Girls – so many thoughts coming in their minds, everywhere, not quite random, but non-stop without control, without a break, no peace ever. The background of blue and pink, this is where they dream to be, gentle, relaxed, calm, with peace in their thoughts. But life, emotions, external influences, hit them all the time, from all directions, issue after issue, the colours black, green, yellow, red and white evoking the true effect on the psyche of each uncontrolled thought. The colours covering the typical emotions of despair, jealousy, fear, anger and cold lacking emotion.
Acrylic on canvas
1000 x 1200mm.
September 2013
Blood Ritual
African rituals emphasise maintaining a harmonious relationship with the divine powers, and their rituals attempt to harness cosmic powers and channel them for good. Rituals often mark the transition between physiological stage of life such as puberty, marriage and death but more recently about genital manipulation. In this painting, we can see the white tears covering the work as the woman undergoes some ritual, her face bespeckled with blood. Young painted this work in the early hours of the morning in the heat of an August night, a deep sense of black magic and Africa can be strongly felt in this very powerful representation of an African woman undergoing a painful ritual.
Acrylic on canvas
1000 x 1200mm.
August 2013
Lonely in Winter
It's clear in this painting that the darkness of winter can be easily seen in the background. The grey and near black is how the long dark evenings often feel. The loneliness of the black bare tree evokes the even deeper feeling of loneliness, the snow covering in places emotes the coldness and emptiness that lonely people feel. However, what remains in our hearts is warm (the red in the canvas) and even the cold can not penetrate, our hearts having the ability to keep this cold at bay and melt the snow even in the deepest depths of despair.
Acrylic on canvas
300 x 750mm. 2 panels
January 2013