Yu Ji: Protrude

In her second solo exhibition with Sadie Coles HQ, Yu Ji returns to familiar themes of the body, the landscape and the fragile relationship between the two, presenting two new sculptures and a series of works on paper. Titled Protrude, the exhibition conjures a set of associations concerning presence and physicality whilst also inciting feelings of action, growth and movement. These are uneasy companions and somewhat contradictory – on the one hand, a protrusion demarks a certain stability, but on the other, a protrusion is an action, an obstacle, an inconvenience to smooth operations. This simultaneous capture of stability and movement, of certainty and fragility, lies at the heart of this new body of work. In this paradox, the exhibition speaks to the very idea of a body; the tender and precarious corporeality of the self in the world.

Two new sculptures made of concrete and soap, each standing over two meters tall, hold the gallery space like sentinels in every sense of the word. They are simultaneously stoic and vulnerable; they keep watch but also monitor their own health and stability. Column-Untitled No.3 – 2 (2023) resembles the ancient columns of Greece or Rome, crooked with age, its crumbling surface testament to its own ancient history. On inspection, there is a discolouration and a set of organic anomalies protruding from its otherwise man-made facade that suggests this is no ordinary architectural artefact. Column-Untitled No.4 – 2 (2023) is organic in nature, yet totemic in a way only nature could produce. An innate upwards growth, it appears as complex life extending to the sky, reaching for the light, exuding its transformative journey. An a-symmetrical protrusion extends outwards from its body, and together these two companion pieces speak to one another, proxies for the vulnerable body in a landscape. The artist first created her series of sculptures in conversation with plants for the High Line project in New York, specifically drawing inspiration from those in the park’s renowned gardens, currently installed until March 2024.