Anicka Yi Late Classical XX, 2022
Tempura fried flowers, resin, Plexiglas, stainless steel shelves, chrome plated dumbbells
121,9 x 81,3 x 25,4 cm
The work consists of a variety of tempura-fried flowers cased in resin arranged on a sheet of wall-mounted Plexiglas. Two chrome-plated dumbbells are placed on shelves visible through the transparent Plexiglas.
Sprung from Yi’s early experiments with metabolisms and ephemeral materials, her tempura-fried flower works are some of the earliest, germinal artworks exhibited in her practice. In these works, the romantic connotations of floral arrangements meet the abject, as visually pleasing organic matter becomes greasy, decayed, and progressively pungent. The delicate structure of the flowers are juxtaposed with the immutable shine of the metal devices for self-improvement.
For Anicka Yi’s most recent tempura-fried flower series (mid and late classical), the artist has collaborated with Christian Scheidemann of Contemporary Conservation to extract the grease out of the tempura-battered botanicals. Through a delicate chemical process the grease is gently washed out of the fried tempura and replaced with an archivally-stable resin. This treatment maintains the aesthetics and the form of the grease, keeping true with the original process for the tempura flower works, while also ensuring that the tempura flowers are completely stabilized as art objects.