The Gallery Reception is August 28th 6-8pm.
Mei Mei 妹妹 is artist Duff Woon Kee Yong’s tribute to the women who have lifted, shaped, and stood beside him and his work throughout the years. While Mei Mei in Chinese traditionally means ‘sister,’ this exhibition is intended to embrace a broader meaning: a constellation of chosen sisters, nurturing spirits, and fierce allies whose love have left quiet yet indelible marks. This space honors those who saw beyond the surface, who understood that ookee was never just a doodle, but a living embodiment of love, connection, and kinship.
The works gathered here echo moments of mischief, care, resilience, and tenderness – qualities that sisters, in all their forms, so effortlessly embody. Each monochrome stroke and spontaneous form of these ookee carries with it the traces of these relationships: sometimes unruly, often gentle, always deeply felt. These are the invisible hands that guided the line, the voices that whispered courage, the hearts that held with grace.
Ookee, from the Chinese word 烏奇 (wū qí), loosely translates to “dark strange.” It’s a name that captures the spirit of Savannah-based artist Duff Woon Yong, who works under the same moniker. The word doesn’t just title the work, it describes it: enigmatic, instinctive, and often tinged with whimsy and unease. This body of work reflects Yong’s ongoing exploration of black-and-white mark-making across wood panels, paper, and found materials. These surfaces chosen for their history, texture, and sometimes personal meaning become the ground for a world teeming with amoebic forms, looping lines, and uncanny shapes. His signature creatures seem to spill over, crawl across, or consume their supports, enacting processes of emergence, tension, and transformation.
Drawing deeply from Chinese calligraphy and street art, Yong’s work is equally informed by the visual language of video games, street art, and comics. His technique resembles automatic drawing, a Surrealist practice in which the hand moves freely, without conscious control allowing buried emotions, memories, and mental states to surface. For Yong, this intuitive flow becomes a form of meditation and personal storytelling.
Raised in Singapore, Duff Woon Kee Yong (b. 1976) received his M.F.A in Computer Art with a focus on Motion Graphics in 2001 from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He has been a professor of Motion Media Design at SCAD since the early 2000s and was the director of Mr. Beast Gallery between 2010-1. Yong has exhibited in Taiwan and Savannah and has collaborated with artists on numerous street art projects.
This exhibition will be on display August 13- September 19.
