Yunhee Min

Silverado Close-up, 2026

1031 Silverado St, La Jolla, CA 92037

Yunhee Min’s mural, Silverado Close-up, presents an expanse of color evoking a sensorial experience reminiscent of La Jolla’s sweeping skies, abundant light, and the Pacific Ocean. In this mural, Min explores the process of image-making itself. Framed and mediated by the temporality of the setup, camera, digital tools, and printing process, Min begins by making cuts to a work on paper, followed by folds and the addition of colored swatches, turning the flat surface into a relief-like form. Drawn to the fleeting quality and unexpected spatial effects of the captured image, she then works with digital tools and cropping to get closer to the surface. 

Silverado Close-up invites viewers to engage with the work at multiple distances. From afar, it appears as an abstract composition animated by sweeping fields of color and gesture. Enlarged brushstrokes take on an architectural scale, while translucent layers evoke the atmospheric space of the sky and sea. As viewers approach, subtle details emerge, such as the creases and seams of folded paper and the shadows cast by layered surfaces. The nuances of the halftone effect also become more apparent, quietly vibrating. A transformation of an intimate, tactile process into the public realm, the mural creates a dialogue between materiality and scale and invites viewers to reconsider how images might be made with these materials and how perception evolves over time. 

Min’s practice explores complexities and potentialities through abstraction. In site-specific work, she is interested in how viewers experience the built environment through exploration of new materials, techniques of fabrication, and considerations of scale. Born in Seoul, Korea, in 1962, she received her BFA from Art Center College of Design and an MDes from Harvard University. Her paintings and large-scale site-specific projects use color, light, and material to create shifting perspectives, transforming spaces into immersive environments. 

Min has shown her work in many notable institutions, including solo exhibitions and site-specific installations at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (MCASD), UCLA Hammer Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco. Her work has been included in exhibitions at LACMA; the Weatherspoon Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina; the CCAC Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco; and the Seattle Art Museum. Her work is held in permanent collections including LACMA, the MCASD, and the Hammer Museum. She lives and works in Los Angeles.