Imin Yeh (she/her) is an artist whose practice includes hand-made publications, sculpture, installation, and participatory projects. Her work expands our understanding of the role book making, paper, and print have played in the recording, copying, and spreading of the human story. The projects use handcraft and mimicry as a strategy for exploring the issues around unseen labor and production that lie beneath our many unconsidered everyday objects.
Imin notes that “Paper is the most recurrent element in my projects. Conceptually, I chose this material because in its transformation from a commonplace material into a precious art object, it retains a human and bodily investment of time. I have confidence working with paper since it is my childhood, spent cutting and building, with an almost 100% guarantee of no major loss to either bank account or limb. The near invisibleness of my laborious projects, the utter lack of utility in either function or value, and the small, softly placed interventions are all a provocation to think about how much time and energy is invested in things we cannot or choose not to see. A small object, a gesture, or a voice from the margins can reclaim a space, be a catalyst for thought, or at the very least, provide a bit of wonder and magic.”
Imin has a forthcoming two-person exhibition with the artist Michael Hall at Catharine Clark Gallery in the spring of this year. Since the opening of EXiT, the gallery’s art bookstore, in 2023, Imin’s hand-made books, prints, and other works on paper have been prominently featured. Other recent exhibitions have been at Bass and Reiner (San Francisco, CA), Grizzly Grizzly (Philadelphia, PA), San Jose Museum of Art (CA), Asian Art Museum (San Francisco, CA), and the Contemporary Jewish Museum (San Francisco, CA). Her work is in the collections of many institutions including Stanford Library (CA), Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY), New York Public Library (NY), Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), The Library of Congress (Washington, DC), Yale University (New Haven, CT), San Jose Museum of Art (CA), the Hunt Library, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA), among many others. Imin has been the recipient of a creative development award from the Heinz Foundation, a Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation, and an Individual Artist Grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission. She is an Associate Professor of Print Media at Carnegie Mellon University School of Art, and lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA.
20’ of Crayons of a Unique Color
$15,000
12" of Crayons of a Unique Color Edition of 3
$1,000 6" of Crayons of a Unique Color Edition of 6
$450
Individual crayons (available in EXIT): $40
Imin Yeh, Crayons, 2024 Acrylic paint on paper. Each crayon is 3 1/2 x 1/4 inches.
9 x 5 x 5 inches
$500
Imin Yeh, Spare Room Trash Can: Happy Meal, 2024
Acrylic on paper.
$1,000
Imin Yeh, Spare Room Trash Can: Thank You, 2024
Acrylic on paper, alcohol inks on glassine. 11 x 11 x 11 inches
12 x 12 x 8 1/2 inches
$800
Imin Yeh, Spare Room Trash Can: 99 Ranch, 2024
Acrylic on paper, alcohol inks on glassine.
Risograph print, graphite, digital print, PVA glue, acrylic paint, paper, fabric, watercolor, vinyl, glassine, alcohol ink. 10 x 10 x 10 inches
$2,500
Imin Yeh, Spare Room Trash Can: Hunt Library, 2024
Imin Yeh, Spare Room Trash Can: Hunt Library, detail, 2024
6 x 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches
$800
Imin Yeh, The Lines of 100 Index Cards, 2024 Lines of index card in a pickle jar.
Lines
6 x 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches
$800
Imin Yeh, The Lines of 100 Index Cards (Layers), 2024
of index card in a pickle jar.
Imin Yeh, Dream Cabin, 2020–2023 Medium: everything. 21 x 21 x 30 inches
POR
Edition of 5
19 x 16 x 7 inches
$2,500
Imin Yeh, School Clock, 2023
Screenprint and acrylic on paper
Imin Yeh, Floppy Copy, 2023–Ongoing (85 pieces total)
Acrylic on paper, pencil, marker, color pencil, watercolor, highlighter, ballpoint pen. 4 x 3 1/2 inches each
Full configuration: $25,000
Individual floppy disk commission: $300
* Disks are not available individually
Imin Yeh, Floppy Copy, detail, 2023–Ongoing
Screenprint on paper
Approximately 208 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches, height variable
$4,000
Imin Yeh, A Perfect Stack, 2024
Acrylic paint and tracing paper on hand perforated paper. Sheet: 12 x 9 inches; Frame: 16 x 12 3/4 inches
Imin Yeh, Cheez-its, 2024
$1,250
Imin Yeh, Saltines, 2024
Acrylic paint on hand perforated paper.
Sheet: 12 x 9 inches; Frame:16 x 12 3/4 inches
$1,250
Imin Yeh, Goodnight Moon, 2022 Screenprint on paper. Edition of 3; 3/3 18 x 14 inches each
$2,500 (triptych)
Imin Yeh, Goodnight Moon, detail, 2022
Imin Yeh, Goodnight Moon, detail, 2022
Imin Yeh, Goodnight Moon, detail, 2022
Imin Yeh, Scarry Collage, 2024 Paper collage 22 x 30 inches
$5,000
Imin Yeh, Scarry Collage, detail, 2024
Imin Yeh, A (faulty) memory of my dad opening a lock with a combination I forgot over summer break, 2024 Watercolor and graphite
22 x 30 inches
$5,000
Imin Yeh, A (faulty) memory of my dad opening a lock with a combination I forgot over summer break, detail, 2024
11 x 57 x 57 inches
$12,000
Imin Yeh, Dad Tape and Stanchions, 2023
Acrylic on paper, Yupo paper
Imin Yeh, Track Lights, 2024 Screenprint, acrylic on paper Edition of 6
Approx. 9 x 24 x 4 inches
$1,500 each
Approximately
$500
Imin Yeh, Stack of butter wrappers with a binder clip, 2024 Screenprint on Gampi, wax, acrylic paint, PVA glue.
6 x 5 x 1 inches
Approximately 2 1/2 x 3 x 2 1/2 inches NFS
Imin Yeh, Sardine lid and a goldfish (for Michael Hall), 2024 Acrylic, paper, PVA glue.
Approximately 4 x 3 3/4 x 1 inches $200
Imin Yeh, Mix tape, 2024 Paper, acetate, PVA glue.
Approximately 6
$200
Imin Yeh, Butter wrapper in a can tab, 2024 Screenprint on Gampi, wax, acrylic paint, PVA glue.
x 6 x 2 inches
Screenprint
3 1/4 x 2 x 1 inches
$300
Imin Yeh, Sunflower seed, almond, and a pretzel stick in a butter wrapper with a binder clip, 2024
on Gampi, wax, acrylic paint, PVA glue, tracing paper.
Imin Yeh, Combo and a Band-Aid, 2024 Paper, acrylic paint, tracing paper, PVA glue. 2 x 1 x 1 inches
$200
Screenprint on paper.
6 x 6 x 1 inches
$200
Imin Yeh, Olive loaf, 2024
3
$300
Imin Yeh, Four PEZ on a Band-Aid, 2024 Paper, acrylic paint, PVA glue.
x 3 x 1 inches
Imin Yeh, Salty rainbow and a purple rubber band, 2024 Acrylic paint, PVA glue, tracing paper, paper.
6 x 3 x 1 inches
$300
Imin Yeh, Blue tape toilet paper, 2024 Paper, acrylic paint, PVA glue. Approximately 6 x 5 x 5 inches $400
3
$200
Imin Yeh, Orange ribbon, star sticker and a blue Sour Patch Kid, 2024 Paper, acrylic paint, gloss medium, tracing paper, colored pencil.
x 1 1/2 x 1 inches
3 x 1 1/2 x 1
$300
Imin Yeh, Oyster with a red rubber band, 2024
Acrylic paint, paper, PVA glue.
inches
5
$200
Imin Yeh, Orange ribbon, star sticker, and a pink birthday candle, 2024 Paper, acrylic paint, gloss medium, colored pencil.
x 2 1/2 x 1 inches
3 1/4 x 1 1/2 x 1 inches
$200
Imin Yeh, Eraser, PEZ, and rubber band, 2024 Screenprint, powered graphite, PVA glue, acrylic paint, paper.
3 x 2 1/2 x 1 inches
$200
Imin Yeh, Dorito, binder clip and pretzel, 2024
Acrylic paint, paper, tracing paper, PVA glue.
4
$300
Imin Yeh, Hair tie, dandelion, and pretzel, 2024 Crepe paper, paper, tracing paper, acrylic paint, PVA glue.
x 2 1/4 x 3 inches
6
$300
Imin Yeh, Swiss cheese and three birthday candles, 2024
Watercolor, paper, PVA glue.
x 6 x 2 inches
$200
Imin Yeh, Hair tie and a pencil shaving, 2024 Watercolor, India ink, paper, acrylic paint, PVA glue.
3 x 2 1/4 x 1 inches
3
$300
Imin Yeh, Two lollipops and a rubber band, 2024 Alcohol inks, Yupo paper, acrylic paint, paper, PVA glue.
1/2 x 3 x 2 inches
2 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 1 inches
$300
Imin Yeh, Hair tie, banana and olive, 2024 Watercolor, paper, acrylic paint, PVA glue.
$500
Imin Yeh, Shaker chair and a Cheez-It, 2024 Acrylic paint, paper, tracing paper, PVA glue.
3 x 1 1/2 x 2 inches
4
$300
Imin Yeh, Duck sauce, birthday candle, and a binder clip, 2024 Screenprint, wax, paper, acrylic paint, PVA glue.
1/2 x 3 x 1 inches
3 1/4 x 2 1/4 x 1 inches
$300
Imin Yeh, Binder clip, Band-Aid and an eraser, 2024 Screenprint, powered graphite, acrylic paint, paper, PVA glue.
2
Imin Yeh, Hairtie and radish, 2024
Acrylic paint, paper, Yupo paper, watercolor, PVA glue.
1/4 x 2 1/4 x 1 inches
$200
$300
Imin Yeh, Lollipop, apple slice, and a rubber band, 2024 Alcohol ink, watercolor, paper, PVA glue, acrylic paint.
3 x 3 x 3 inches
5
$400
Imin Yeh, Airhead extreme, olive, and rubber band, 2024
Acrylic paint, PVA glue, paper, tracing paper.
x 2 1/4 x 2 inches
3 1/2 x 3 x 2 1/2 inches
$300
Imin Yeh, Toasted marshmallow and a dandelion, 2024 Crepe paper, PVA glue, wire, paper.
4 3/4 x 1 x 1 1/2 inches
$300
Imin Yeh, Crayon, Sour Patch Kid, poison oak, and rubber band, 2024
Acrylic paint, paper, wire, tracing paper, PVA glue.
3 1/4 x 2 1/4 x 1 inches
$200
Imin Yeh, Two rubber bands and a binder clip, 2024 Paper, acrylic paint, PVA glue.
5 x 1 1/2 x 1
Imin Yeh, Pocky stick and rubber band, 2024
Acrylic paint, paper, PVA glue.
inches
$200
2 x 2 1/4 x 2 1/2 inches
$300
Imin Yeh, Seaweed snack, two cheese cubes, and a hair tie, 2024
Acrylic paint, paper, PVA glue, alcohol inks, glassine.
2 1/2 x 1 x 1 inches
$200
Imin Yeh, Birthday candle and rubber band, 2024
Acrylic paint, paper, PVA glue.
Screenprint, paper, PVA glue.
2 1/4 x 3 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches
$300
Imin Yeh, Olive loaf, birthday candle, and a hair tie, 2024
$300
Imin Yeh, Toddler Snack: banana, American cheese and binder clip, 2024
Acrylic paint, paper, PVA glue, watercolor.
3 x 3 1/2 x 2 inches
3 1/2 x 3 x 2 inches
$300
Imin Yeh, Nectarine slice, apple slice, hair tie, and a rubber band, 2024
Acrylic paint, paper, PVA glue, watercolor.
12 x 2 1/2 x 2 inches
$400
Imin Yeh, Roll of tape, salami slice, pretzel, and a binder clip, 2024 Paper, PVA glue, Yupo paper, screenprint.
Imin Yeh, Bugle and olive, 2024
Watercolor, acrylic paint, paper, PVA glue. 1 x 1 x 2 inches
$200
$200
Imin Yeh, Band-Aid, 2024
Acrylic paint, paper, PVA glue. 2 x 1 x 1 inches
Imin Yeh, Spare Scissors, 2023. Paper. 10 x 4 x 1 inches. Edition of 18. $250
Additional Work Available
Imin Yeh, Dream Cabin, 2022. Offset printed, perfect bound, die cut, silver foil. 8 x 8 inches. Edition of 525.
$45
About this work: “I had a month long bout with postpartum insomnia and my partner Paul Mullins gave me sage advice from his lifelong wrangle with sleeplessness. He said to try to imagine a place and build it in my mind. That place ended up being a lakeside A-frame cabin for the three of us. Lemmy is sleep trained now so I’m building the house in 1:12 scale from the take out and shipping boxes from our quarantine. I think about all the details and how to build it while going to sleep each night and I work on it during her nap times. Since November 2020, dreamcabin has been filled with artworks contributed by dozens of artists, often arriving completely by surprise in the mail.” – Imin Yeh
Dream Cabin, the book, is typeset in TW Cent MT on 100# flo-gloss text paper, with a die cut and foil stamped cover on forest green Colorplan paper. Photography by Jacquelyn Johnson. Copy Editing by Leslie Gordon. This book is designed and laid out by Imin Yeh and is published through their imprint E.L.Hymns with support by Small Editions. This publication was made possible by a Creative Development Award from the Heinz Endowments, Pittsburgh PA.
Imin Yeh, Lemmy’s Gift, 2021. Risograph print. 7 x 5 inches (packaged). Edition of 115.
$40
Lemmy’s Gift is an artist book with paper patterns to make eight observational and buildable geometric shapes; complete with a storage box and instructional zine.
These shapes are the key forms and techniques behind the paper sculptures in my artistic practice. If you can master building these forms, you will find their structures repeated in almost any object you hope to recreate in paper. Humans invented paper out of the desire to leave records, sharing their ideas with as many people as possible. Paper is the material of childhood; children, without hesitation, make anything they want on and out of paper. It is then, no surprise that these foundational shapes mirror Fröbel Gifts, the nearly 200 year old series of educational playthings developed by Friedrich Fröbel. Fröbel believed a lifetime of learning and the discovery of the world could begin with a simple wooden cube. I believe a lifetime of creativity begins with the limitless potential of a simple piece of paper. Lemmy’s Gift is just an introduction.
This first edition is typeset in TW Cent MT and printed by risograph and laser print on French Paper. The shapes are plotter cut on Colorplan Paper. Designed, conceived, and published by Imin Yeh and their imprint ELHymns. The cover design borrows heavily from Observational Geometry by William T Campbell.
Lemmy’s Gift was made possible in part by generous support from Play Mountain Exchange, a project directed by Isla Hansen, funded by the Center for the Arts in Society at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA.
Imin Yeh, I'm in Ya, 2019. Silver foil cover, Indigo digital offset printing of 70 color pencil drawings. 5 x 3 1/4 inches. Edition of 200.
$20
Imin Yeh explains, “This projects documents ten days of people making fun of my name on Facebook. In March of 2016, somebody made fun of my name, as it appeared on my Facebook profile. I know this because for 10 days, I received 70 + direct messages from strangers (all in the UK) making jokes about my name; referring to it as I’m In Ya (as in I’m In You). It took me a while to understand the joke. In my life, I had never thought of my name, Imin Yeh, in that way. My name, Imin Yeh, is the result of a very careful and deliberate decision process by my parents. They immigrated to this country in the mid 70s, but my siblings and I were born in the States. Many Asian immigrants in this situation choose to give their children American names, reserving their Chinese name as a middle name, or for use at home. My parents intentionally chose to keep our first names Chinese. My name is 葉艾明 (Yeh Ai-Ming), it is composed of a Family Surname (Yeh), and individual character (Ai) and a generational character (Ming). All of my siblings share a generational character, it is a common Chinese naming convention. Fearing that Ai-Ming Yeh would look too foreign or would be mocked, they tried their best to anglicize the spelling and settled on Imin Yeh, reserving Samantha as my middle name so that I could have a choice. Finally, aware of discrimination towards women, my father chose gender neutral names to give to his two daughters. This is the way I have always thought about and loved my name.” I’m in Ya is about a strange event surrounding a strange name. It is also a story about parents who thought carefully and seriously about how to merge two languages and two cultures into the name of their daughter. The text of I’m in Ya is set in Space Groetsk and is of each message received, as it appeared in my inbox. The images are reproductions, drawn in colored pencil, of the sender’s profile picture. I’m in Ya was supported in part by funding from the College of Fine Arts Fund for Research and Creativity.
Imin Yeh, Paper Paper Film, 2019.Box Size: 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 2 inches. Edition of 52.
$800
Paper Paper Film is an artist facsimile of a 1983 educational film box set on printing and paper. The original box set was published in 1983, purchased by the Carnegie Mellon University in 1987, found in the storage closet at Carnegie Mellon University in 2016, and published in the form of a paper sculpture by the Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY in 2019. WSW is funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The box is Silver Foil stamped onto Vermillion ColorPlan paper wrapped around book board. The foam is hand built from die cut handmade cotton paper, dyed foam grey with glitter. The Film Canisters and Cassettes are hand built out of Bright Red Colorplan paper with screenprint, rives BFK, Acetate and laser print. The Receipt is printed on Awagami Murakuno Kozo Select Natural digital inkjet washi paper, with hand cut perforations and dot matrix printer holes. Finally, The Paper Paper Film Book is Digital printed and perfect bound with a handmade cotton paper cover, letterpressed in Twentieth Century. It includes digital photographs of the projected film strip on Paper and a transcription of the original cassette tape.
This work has been acquired by the following institutions: Hunt Library, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA; Indiana University, Bloomington IN; Rochester Institute of Technology, NY; University of Delaware, Newark, DE; Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY; Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; Yale University, New Haven, CT; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; The Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA; University of San Diego, San Diego, CA; University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR; Baylor, Waco, TX; Bennington College, Bennington, VT; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Ohio University, Athens, OH; Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL; The New York Public Library, New York, NY; University of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA.
Imin Yeh, Needle Book, 2023. Collaboration with Jacquelyn Johnson. Screenprint on Lenox 100, etching on Kitaka, sewing thread. 1 x 1 1/8 inches. Second printing; edition of 20. $100.
Vintage needle packaging is paper magic, especially a reproduction of one that houses a tiny artist book of a playful black length of thread.
A retractable bone folder for being ready to properly fold, anywhere, anytime.
Imin Yeh, Fold Ready, 2023. Bone folder, sticker. 5 inch bone folder tethered to a 25 inch retractable pocket holster. Edition of 100. $25
A 1:12 scale trapper keeper with the doodles I still can remember drawing from my childhood. Plus bonus drawing by Lemmy.
Imin Yeh, Some Doodles, 2023. Graphite, paper, screenprint. 1 x 1 x 1/5 inches. Edition of 20. $75
Imin Yeh, Bugs by Lennox, 2023. Digital print, paper. 1 x 1 x 3/8 inches. Open edition.
$25
A collection of small peas with big feelings.
Imin Yeh, The Peas, 2023. Risograph print, handbound book. 1 x 3/4 inches. Open Edition. $40
Imin Yeh, Some Lost Hair Ties, 2024
Acrylic paint on paper. 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3/8 inches. Edition of 50. $50
Imin Yeh, Track a Year, 2022. Letterpress print, perforated risograph. 9 x 9 inches. Open edition.
$30
Imin Yeh,
You for Understanding, 2024. Digital print, hand-bound casebound book. 7 x 4 1/4 x 1 inches. Second printing; Edition of 10, signed. $250
Thank
Imin Yeh, Star Bolts, 2020. Paper. 11 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 3 inches. Edition of 10.
$200
Digital
1 3/4 x 1 3/4
Edition of 20. $100
Imin Yeh, Some Bugs, 2023.
print on Awagami paper (stinkbug), copper plate etching, wax, and paper (Lantern Fly).
x 1 inches.
6 x 8 x 2 inches. Edition of 5. $800
Imin Yeh, My Sister's Chinese Dictionary, 2019. Screenprint on Paper.
Imin Yeh, Film Projector (for Paper Paper Film), 2020.
Acrylic paint, screenprint ink on rives BFK. Digital print on Gampi. 6 x 9 x 8 inches. Edition of 5.
$1500
2 1/8 x 2 1/8 inches. Edition of 19. $50
Imin Yeh, Snack Sculpture: A Pair of Saltines, 2023. Screenprint, hand perforated/hole punched paper.
Imin Yeh, Drawer of Extra Sauce, 2019. Screenprint and wax on paper. 1 x 4 inches (each). Edition of 25. $150
Individual sauce packet: $50
Approximately 3 x 6 x 2 1/2 inches. Edition of 5. $750
Imin Yeh, Dad's Tape, 2022. Acrylic on paper, yupo.
Imin Yeh, Almond Jello, 2023. Acrylic on paper, book cloth covered clamshell box.
5 x 5 x 3 1/2 inches. Edition of 6. $500
5
Edition of 6. $500
Imin Yeh, A Perfect Shaving, 2021. Watercolor on Kitakata paper, handmade clamshell box from snackboard.
1/4 x 3 1/4 x 1 inches.
