John Yuyi

Belly Button – John Yuyi, Temporary Tattoos, Social Media, Photography, Body

2016

John Yuyi (*1991, Taiwan) is known worldwide as an interdisciplinary voice of her generation in art, fashion, and social media. The millennial-speak depictions of the female body and her aptitude for collecting, wielding, and reflecting on social media influence are recurring in her practice. She uses temporary tattoos to generate visual manifestos, while the body becomes a performative screen to present them. In addition, Yuyi exploits the iconography of mass media by utilizing her own body to project the images upon, which also reflect the self and the economics of identity. In a series of ongoing investigations into the intersections between the physical and technological worlds, Yuyi explores our addiction to social media and the marks it leaves on our lives. The fact that attention has become the most important currency is also evident in the artist's collaboration with prestigious brands, whose logos she ‘tattoos’ on her skin before posting her self-portraits as advertisements on Instagram. In this way, the Taiwanese artist shows how the body has become a vehicle for media attention on social networks. At the same time, she demonstrates how our bodies are occupied by these very platforms. They influence how we present and perceive ourselves - and determine the value we give ourselves. Yuyi, now based in New York City, received her BFA in Fashion Design from Shih Chien University in 2013. Yuyi’s work has been exhibited both in the US and internationally, including in ‘The Artist Is Online’, König Galerie, Berlin (2021); ‘Global Gallery’, König Galerie, Berlin (2021); ‘Manifest of freedom’ 193 Gallery, Paris (2020); ‘Eye See No Lashes’ Tao Art, Taipei (2021); Taipei Dangdai, Taipei (2019); The Art Vacancy, New York (2018); My(temporary)self, Los Angeles (2018); ‘John Yuyi’, Shanghai (2018); More Than A Gallery, Paris (2016); Off Topic, Taipei (2016), Watermark, Los Angeles (2016), and in Sydney. Most recently she was exhibited at Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland in 2021 as part of the exhibition ‘How to Win at Photography – Image-Making as Play’ along with artists such as Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman and Ai Weiwei. Currently she is exhibited in the ‘Fundación Foto Colectania’ in Barcelona together with Roni Horn and Thomas Ruff amongst others. She was recognised by Forbes magazine in the ‘30 under 30 Asia 2018 - The Arts’ category. Furthermore, Yuyi worked on international projects with Gucci, Kenzo, Burberry, and Maison Margiela, among other brands, and has been profiled by i-D, Office, NYLON, Dazed, Bullett, the BBC, and The New York Times.