Emily Yong Beck

Education & Formation
2021 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Selected Exhibitions and Works
2023 Emily Yong Beck, Lefebvre & Fils, Paris, France
2023 Whiskers on Kittens, Gaa Projects, Cologne, Germany
2022 Spoonful of Sugar, New Image Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Lions & Lambs, Gaa Gallery, Provincetown, MA
2022 Emily Youg Beck (Online Feature), The Nevica Project, Chicago, IL
2022 Emily Yong Beck + Kaylie Kaitschuck, NADA New York, Gaa Gallery, New York NY

Awards & Residencies
2023 The Residency Program, Versailles, France
2022 Township10, Marshall, NC
2021 Watershed, Newcastle, ME

Gleb: I read on Artsy that your work uncovers “the-cuteness” to reveal another side of kawaii culture. I’m curious about your personal connection to these images — what is your relationship with Japanese visual culture? Has it had a direct impact on your practice?

Emily: The imagery I often use in my work is usually taken from parts of kawaii culture in which I grew up with as a young girl, like early generations of Pokemon, Sanrio characters, etc. For me a lot of these characters were important because they were very popular Asian media that reached the United States. Even though I'm half Korean, these forms of media were important to me because growing up, Korea wasn't as well known it is today with the rising fame of kpop and Korean culture , so for me Japanese kawaii culture was something I could access instead. However, when I got older I begin doing my own research and studied about the harsh Japanese colonization of Korea in which my Grandmother even grew up experiencing. Still today Japan doesn't acknowledge most or the severities of the war crimes that were recently committed. Finally I started doing research on the power of cuteness in general. I started researching about soft power and propaganda and soon enough these cute images in which I grew up with and love begin to take a new form of meaning for me. Still I love a lot of it, but there's almost a betrayal that I'm interested in exploring. Also, just the power of cuteness in general to be able to take over previous histories, and almost gives permission to over look previous transgressions through the power of cuteness is something I'm interested in. Now my work is beginning to shift in a way to explore fan service, and cuteness with sexuality in anime. I'm interested in what cuteness and sexuality do in anime and how this has an effect on not only Japanese women but the perception of Asian women as a whole. It's also an exploration of fantasy and how do we learn to love things that may be revealed to be problematic in an age where we have so much access to information. What can we still enjoy and how can we enjoy it once a veil has been lifted is something I'm interested in as well.

Gleb: Working with ceramics is traditionally associated with something earthly and physical. What’s interesting is that you bring together two very different worlds: digital or virtual imagery and handmade craft. Could you share something about your experience during that process? How do you feel that connection between the two?

Emily: I've always been drawn to the medium of ceramics in general. I went to art school initially as a painter/ drawer but hated all of my 2D artwork. Revisiting ceramics I found I could get loose in a way I was not skilled enough in painting to do. With ceramics there's so much that goes wrong that the end result will almost certainly surprise you which I love. 

Additionally I'm drawn to the history of the medium of ceramics. I always like to tell people that ceramics is older than farming even, and is so important to humans in general. Also,  Korea has such a rich and important history with ceramics that I often love to reference. There's been even a history of conflict with Korean and Japanese pottery that I find interesting and want it to slightly oscillate within my references in what I make. 

Lately in my exploration of digital and ceramics work has been so exciting for me because it's connecting the past artwork and the future of art (oldest medium to the newest). In creating my work I also am aiming to create a spectacle, with my pots I overwhelm with an almost infestation of characters over traditional Korean pots but I found I still wasn't able to overwhelm as much as I wanted to. I feel with my new digital work, with video, sound, and sculpture it creates a new level of spectacle I'm excited to continue to explore. Finally, I think there is something so delightfully disturbing with the juxtaposition of the sloppy grotesque forms of my ceramics next to video of the pristine anime that kind of calls to the concepts in which I'm exploring.

Gleb: Do you keep a critical distance from your work, or do you feel something alive in these gloopy, visceral forms? Or is it both at once?

Emily: I do feel distance from my work. I don't so much watch anime, or decorate my house with a ton of plushies or play video games anymore. I think this has been a natural progression of my research because it is so personal and sometimes the research leads me to not be able to enjoy certain things like I used to. There is still something nostalgic and fun to me in the artwork and creating it is often enjoyable, but it doesn't consume me. I think additionally, a lot of my work is critical of kawaii worship so there becomes a barrier for me as an artist where I become less of a fan of certain media.