Yael Korin
Reflections and Shadows
Abstract Impressionist Photography

Artist's statement

Why "Abstract Impressionist"?

Abstract art is art that does not attempt to represent
an accurate description of a visual reality.

Impressionist painters sought to express their
perception of nature, rather than a reproduction of it.
Introducing the subjectivity - the personal experience - that was lost by photography's tendency to realism.

While most of my work is inspired by the natural world, nature is not a subject that I attempt to represent.

Instead of placing the viewer outside a scene, I attempt to share with the viewer my sense of an immediate, personal, subjective experience of the play of light, shadow, color and movement.

Try to look at my images without identification or understanding. What does it feel like to look at the images without needing to name anything?

However you experience my work, I hope you enjoy
looking at it - after all, that's really what it's about.

About the artist

I am mostly a self-taught fine art photographer, currently using the camera as an initial tool to create abstract impressionistic images.

My passion and affinity for photography started early on, when, as a young teenager, I was given a pre-World War II camera. Photography then became the tool I used to document the events, people, and places in my life. Over the years I moved from a focus on documentary and storytelling towards a fascination with abstract and expressive images that are integral to the artwork I now create.

I am intrigued by the complexity of light and shapes reflected on water, as well as by what can be seen when light penetrates the surface, revealing the forms, colors and textures that exist in the space below. I am fascinated with the surfaces and shapes of trees, as well as the textures and water-worn stones in the tide pools along the central coast.

My images begin as digital photographs, but I see them as abstract digital paintings. They are most often taken from nature, but nature is not the subject. It is a“muse” and inspiration, not a “model” that I document or interpret. Rather than placing the viewer outside the scene, observing the image, I attempt to give a sense of the immediate, subjective experience of “being there.”

My process leads me to discover images not seen by most people. Shadows, reflections, textures, and light are the elements with which I work. 

I use techniques I have developed over the years, to achieve the images that are not depicting the subjects of my art, but rather express my experience and impressions of the surroundings that inspire my art, often pushing it to less explored and conventional zones.

Without the use of filters, special effects, or compositing, I create beautiful, mysterious, and dreamy images, full of vivid and spectacular colors and textures, at times feel almost psychedelics.

I print all of my images in-studio with archival papers and inks. They are mounted on treated wood or dibond sheets, and often framed with weathered wood.

I live in California. Like many others, I was drawn to the beauty of the central coast, and am fortunate to make it my home.

Yael Korin | 310-387-0547 | ykorin@g.ucla.edu

To purchase prints, or for any questions, please use the form in contact link: https://www.yaelkorin.net/contact