Solo Exhibition: Eugene Do November 15-19, 2011

Opening Reception: Thursday, November 17, 6-8pm

BLANK SPACE is pleased to present a solo exhibition featuring the fine art photography of Eugene Do. Inspired by Yin and Yang, constant evolutionary movement is a basis for his artistic expression. Do uses white and black in all his featured prints in this exhibition. All prints are Giclée print on canvas and limited-edition in small numbers.

Originally inspired and transformed to create art came from a quote that Do read in a science magazine: “The air that Van Gogh breathed has never changed; it remains in existence now for well over one hundred years for each and every one of us to breathe as well.” This idea inspired Do to realize that all human beings are a combination of past occurances; we’re all part of the same universal process—a transformative evolution.

This constant evolution is exemplified in natural phenomena and material forms combining and separating, creating and re-creating a Yin and Yang, past and present, positive and negative, male and female dichotomies. For Do, this is representative in his use of black and white in his two series of prints: Yin Yang Series and Leader Series – both featured in this exhibition.

“Bada (Ocean)”, “Gong (Infinity)”, and “San (Mountain)” from the Yin Yang Series, are examples of how Do expresses these dichotomies and creates entirely new objects and images that appear both divided and yet united and merged.

“Che Guevara”, “Kim Jong Il” and “Mao” are three examples of his Leaders Series. The leader series is Do’s answer to his own question on why people change. People are part of the greater social and political processes and are also the Yin and Yang – infinitely combining and separating. Politically speaking, Do comments on how leaders present only certain aspects of a whole in order to reduce their citizenry to “blind men”; how power can be used to distort truth. A commentary based on the “Blind Men and the Elephant”, whereby each man touches a different part of a single elephant and each has a different, and limited, awareness of the whole. Powerful leaders use similar means to “inform” their people in a purposely limited way, and individuals are left to consume only half truths. Do believes that one of the reasons people change is because of their leaders, and that we fight and hate because of these leaders’ half truths.

A self-taught artist with, unusually, an undergraduate degree in Ocean Science, Eugene Do has been featured in a number of solo and group exhibitions over the last two years, primarily in New York City. Do received an Honorable Mention from the International Photography Award (IPA) in 2009. Originally from South Korea, Do currently works and lives in New York.