“I don’t make art to please people.
I make art because I need it”.
In 1972, at the age of 1, Romon Kimin Yang left native Daegu (South Korea) for Washington DC, where he grew up. Although not encouraged by his family to become an artist, Romon inclined towards abstract design.
1989 is a cornerstone of his personal and artistic path, as he moves to NYC, powerful backdrop for radical expression, which consistently fueled Romon’s creativity. In parallel to his Graphic Design & Printmaking Degree, with major in Typography and Logo Design, painting played an increasingly important role in the life of Romon, who progressively became ROSTARR.
The chasm was crossed, from the end of the 90’s, ROSTARR became a full blown artist, which first decade of artistic experimentation is characterized by guerilla-like graphic compositions, colorful patterning, often featuring camouflages and amorphous clouds. Forefront artist of the tight art scene of the time, Romon was a key member of the Barnstormers, collective of Tokyo & NYC-based urban improvisers led by David Ellis, Doze Green and José Parlà.
These artistic improvisations allowed ROSTARR to bring his practice to a higher level of surrendering, of (w)reckless abandon (name of his 2008 Miami solo-show). The search of free-musicality and rhythm is foundational to Romon’s path, for whom music and breakdance have been of vital importance throughout his life.
Yearning to achieve a higher level of flow by attuning the mind and gesture, 2002 marks the beginning of a new period as ROSTARR starts delving into calligraphic experimentation, subtly integrating free-interpretative elements to his minimalist, abstract expressionist compositions.
This shift is paired with the exploration of new materials, enabling a spontaneous, almost automatic pace. “You need to transcend the tool” states the artist who never sketches his work ahead.
The hand, which had been removed from his graphic design initiatic period, was to become prevalent, empowered by a finely curated arsenal of calligraphic pens, brushes and fluted bamboo sticks: “the oldest design tools”, as he likes to call them.
The artist continuously re-invented himself and his craft by shredding any sort of label, daring to dance from one technique to another, always honoring his spiritual compass: explore the aura of connectedness and kill the ego.
Since early 2000’s, the rich, polymorphic body of work of the Renaissance Man got worldwide recognition, being exhibited in forefront museums such as NYC’s MOMA to spearheading galleries in NYC, LA, Miami, Mexico, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Paris, Milan, and the list goes on. Among his notable collectors, Agnès B. french fashion designer and passionate art collector, or Alicia Keys, to name a few.
Playing to each end of the spectrum, from widely chaotic painting thrown at full arm speed to careful precision of calligraphic patterning, ROSTARR’s work still converges towards the search of transcendence, the investigation into the essence: how far can you strip down things without disintegrating their nature or the possibility of their interpretation?
For Yang, “each stroke has its own poetry”, and this partly subconscious creative process acted as a mirror and a catharsis in his own life. The artist’s journey reflects a lifelong assimilation of visual cultures, cross-cultural graphic forms, of relationships between historical precedents.
Absorbing the landscapes of his countless travels, his 2008’s “New Grand Tour”, orchestrated by his Korean-American fellow artist and friend Suitman, which spanned Tibet, Shangri-La to Kunming monasteries where monks devote themselves to sacred Thang-Ka painting, undoubtedly expanded ROSTARR’s aspiration to transcend the surface and tap into the absolute, by exploring - without collisioning - cultures and genres.
Another edifying quality of the artist’s work is the impression of movement and the energy that emanates from his pieces. As if he injected depth and perpetual dynamic into the flatness of the heavy hand-made papers he affectionates, canvas or monumental murals.
As if his soothing aura was timelessly encapsulated in his works of art.
With his intricate compositions, made of striped-mazed lines, giant strokes, spluttered elements, meandering brushstrokes, the artist cultivates the art of observing, as forms often do not appear at first glance, but result from a back-and-forth taming process. Geometrical lines, calligraphic elements, icon-like faces and totemic-shapes fluidly emerge, forming the notes of a visual symphony.
Oscillating from order to chaos, these seductive compositions radiate a formulaic, symbolic language of their own: “Graphysics is a portmanteau of two words: Graphic Arts + (Quantum) Physics, basically Energy (infusing energy/motion into art) at best, this is what I’m attempting to do with my works.”
ROSTARR brings emotion, humanity to the formal quality of the paintings, which often carries a personal, if not interpersonal meaning. The aftermath of tragedies such as 9/11 or natural disasters became part of his body of work, highlighting on the cathartic dimension of the artist’s oeuvre. Yang’s work is constantly interrogating the human psyche, while carrying a sense of universal agelessness.
In the wake of the artists he praises, such as Picasso, M.C Escher, Frank Stella, Keith Haring, Basquiat, Dali or Duchamp, Romon Kimin Yang redefines assumptions, introduces a shift of paradigm, inviting us to reconsider the past, the status-quo. By questioning the post-modern dichotomy between reality and abstraction - on which so-called purists relied to deny any abstract character to work comprising representative elements -, Yang creates a new set of oppositions, advocating that abstraction is an interplay between visual form and interpretation, inviting the observer to freely interpret his anthropomorphic universe.
Over the last 3 decades, through a variety of forms, shapes and mediums, ROSTARR’s art appears as a vehicle for a quest of selflessness and freedom. Not simply an escape from material boundaries, but an ascension towards intellectual, emotional and physical sovereignty:
“To me, being an artist is to be driven to create by the realization that your art is bigger than you and that you are just a vehicle to serve the purpose.”