RACHEL YOUN: Neither Fruit Nor Flower

Bruno David is pleased to present Neither Fruit Nor Flower, a sculptural installation in the WINDOW ON FORSYTH by Rachel Youn. This is Youn’s first solo exhibition with the gallery and will be on view 24/7 at 7513 Forsyth Blvd., Clayton, MO.

Neither Fruit Nor Flower is an arrangement of artificial flora is activated by the motion of a stripped-down vitality swing, an appliance originally designed to bring relief to people with chronic muscle and nerve pain. Playing with the conventions of window display signs and shelves of animatronic toys, the work gestures suggestively to those passing by, resisting its purpose as purely static and decorative.

Youn sources materials with a history of aspiration and failure through online secondhand shopping. Venturing into the suburbs, Youn rescues electric massagers from suburban limbo, fastening artificial plants to the machines to create kinetic sculptures that are clumsy, erotic, and absurd. Haunted by their immigrant father’s pursuit of the American Dream, their work identifies with the replica that earnestly desires to be real, and the failed object that simulates care and intimacy.

Rachel Youn (b. 1994) is an artist living and working in St. Louis, MO. They have had solo exhibitions in St. Louis at the Contemporary Art Museum, Monaco, and the Bermuda Project. Their work has been included in group exhibitions in St. Louis at the Parapet Real Humans, the Sheldon Art Galleries, and the Luminary, among others. Additional group exhibitions include Sargent’s Daughters, New York, NY; the Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY; HAIR + Nails, Minneapolis, MN; Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Los Angeles; and Granite City Art and Design District, Granite City, IL. Youn is a recipient of the Vermont Studio Center Fellowship and the 2020 Great Rivers Biennial Award. They received their BFA from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.