Chinwook Kim

‘Externalisations of the Mind’
Mon 14 – Sun 27 May 2012

Oriental VisArt is pleased to present Korean artist Chinwook Kim’s first solo exhibition in Switzerland, and Oriental VisArt’s 7th exhibition.

At first glance Chinwook Kim’s works appear as semi-abstract landscapes filled with life and nature. Works that are soft in palette and intricate with organic forms, reminiscent of detailed Japanese woodblock prints in which the figures inhabit a narrow foreground space and are defined only by simple ink outlines filled with flat areas of colour or textile patterns.

However there is a sense of uneasiness and eeriness to the twisting forms that impose on each other, layer after layer, which reveal a far more complex and sober nature of what lies beneath and behind the tightly bound, gnarled forms. Only rarely is shading employed, and then it is confined to depictions of blurring the distinction between the detail and what appears to be black holes, spaces void of information or recall.

Kim is an accomplished draughtsman; the works are drawn with dense hatching to create tonality, yet some of the most beautiful works in the series have black spots or areas that are drowned in shading, creating a haze where detail struggles to emerge. These works tell us about the mind of the artist; the surfaces are so dense with detail that the images feel airtight and dense. Spidery calligraphic lines create organic shapes that feel as through they are in perpetual motion, while washes, drips and glimpses of colour suggest second thoughts and erasures. Over a piece of white paper his horde of creeping forms are influenced by the mastery of medium and imagination of Heironymous Bosch, or the consummate delicacy and refinement of Aubrey Beardsley.

Chinwook Kim’s works unfold as his conscious and subconscious state of mind does. His works are the externalisations of his mind.

Born in 1972 in Korea, Chimwook Kim undertook his undergraduate Bachelor of Fine Arts in Seoul, before relocating to Europe and completing a second Bachelor of Fine Arts followed by his Masters in Germany, then after relocating to the UK he completed a further Masters of Fine Arts. His works have featured in numerous group exhibitions in the UK and Switzerland.

Oriental VisArt and La Magie des Vins Sàrl

Oriental VisArt hosted our first-ever Wine and Art night, in partner with Michel Vialle La Magie des Vins Sàrl on Friday, 3 June 2011.

The event featured wine tasting « Château de Chaintres » Saumur-Champigny AOC, wines from the region Châteaux de la Loire. Guests were treated to these wines while enjoying the works of Hyungji Park, as the event takes place at Nest Gallery in Geneva, Switzerland, during Oriental VisArt’s exhibition « Neon Plants, Night Lights and Travel to the Galaxy ».

The wine tasting menu featured five, crisp summer wines:

• Two whites:
• a Burgundy, the “Mâcon Chardonnay” 2009 de Benjamin et Mallory Talmard
• a Bordeaux, the “Blanc Sec” 2009 de Château Parenchère
• One rosé :
• the Bordeaux « Clairet » 2009 de Château Parenchère
• And two reds :
• a Chianti 2009 : the « Titolato Strozzi » produced in San Gimignano by the Prince Strozzi
• a Saumur Champigny : the “Château Chaintres » produced by in the Loire Castles region by Comte Gaël de Tigny

Photos of the event:

Summery wine selection

Sponsors from La Magie des Vins

Sponsors and organiser Kayla Hye K. Yang

Guests

Showroom view

Guests and our organiser

Guests and the work of Hyungji Park

Showroom view

Wine night

Oriental VisArt’s 5th Exhibition – Neon Plants, Night Lights and Travel to the Galaxy, Hyungji Park’s solo show

Oriental VisArt is pleased to announce our fifth exhibition, Neon Plants,
Night Lights and Travel to the Galaxy, a solo exhibition featuring the works of Korean Artist Hyungji Park. The exhibition will commence on 23 May 2011 at Nest Gallery in Old Town, Geneva, Switzerland, and run for two weeks. The vernissage will take place 24 May 2011 from 6-9 p.m. at Nest Gallery and Artist Hyungji Park will be in attendance.

« Neon Plants, Night Lights and Travel to the Galaxy » features the work of Korean Artist Hyungji Kim for her first solo exhibition in Switzerland.

Splashed, splattered, sprayed, spread, swept. Blotted, dripped, layered, mixed, pared back, rubbed. For Hyungji Park the physicality of paint is as important as it is a visual medium. The artist’s interpretation of her chosen subject matter through the manipulation and application of paint is paramount.

Park takes her imagery from everyday life – drawing visual references from contemporary culture and media, the internet, art history, magazines, advertisements, and conventional motifs found in comics, graphic design and old wood cut prints. Each source is then re-appropriated through painting techniques to transform the original source into a new realisation – one that is rich in fantasy and has multiple interpretations. The artist claims to be in constant search for ways to create new and playful dialogues between the material conventions of painting and the abundance of imagery she finds around her.

In « Neon Plants, Night Lights and Travel to the Galaxy » the artist shows recent works and those from her previous series Strange  Scenery. Park creates fictitious scenes by combining collected visual references that are then dissected and recreated to form new abstracted landscapes and imagery. In her earlier works, the artist details sections with acute precision, carefully building up layers of oil paint, and then dripping watery thin consistency of medium sporadically over the works so that ultimately the result is that the viewer’s eye is drawn away from the apparent subject matter to the surface of the work and hence the structure of the painting.

More recent works are influenced by visual references taken from window displays, illuminations, objects and design. The works show evidence of a more broad experimentation with technique – paring back surfaces and detail, scraping off paint or spraying and splattering medium in order to conjure effect and experience. Park’s paintings could be said to be revelations of her mind’s processing of modern society’s visual overload of information, and her technique – her way of digesting, sorting, reflecting upon and understanding. The artworks become the connecting tissue for the thoughts and views of the artist.

Park appears interested less in the finished work than in the ‘systems’. Her works are not so much the culmination of a concept, as the product of what is unseen – her thoughts and her actions. This series denotes her advance in her practice, and her desire to have a complete experience with painting – one that involves seeing, thinking and doing.

Park earned a Bachelor of Fine ArtsArts Degrees Hongik University of Seoul, Korea in 2001, followed by her Masters in 2006 at the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul. She went on to complete an additional Masters of Fine Art at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London in 2008. Park currently lives and works in London.

Sascha Gianella
May, 2011

Please enjoy Hyungji Park’s work images!

Bubble Castle, Acrylic on linen, 95x130cm, 2011

Boramae Park, Acrylic on linen, 130x145cm, 2011

Neon Plants, Acrylic on linen, 130x145cm, 2011

Oriental VisArt 2nd Exhibition Opening Reception: 28 Oct 2010

The opening reception of Heena Kim‘s Solo Show was held in the Nest Gallery in Geneva, Switzerland on Thur 28 Oct, 2010. It was the first time Heena Kim’s work was exhibited in Switzerland and the Guests seemed to appreciate her concept and ideas which are different to what they have seen before. The feedback has been great and I hope she will show her next series in Switzerland again.

Enjoy some pics taken on the opening!

Nest Gallery in Geneva

 

Guests

 

Guests

 

Left: Guest, Right: Artist Heena Kim

 

Left: Guest, Right: Artist Heena Kim

 

Guests

 

Guests

 

Guests

 

Guests and the Artist Heena Kim

 

Guest

 

Guests

 

Guests

Oriental VisArt – 2nd Exhibition in Geneva

We are pleased to announce the 2^nd exhibition of Oriental VisArt in Geneva. The ‘Visible vs. Invisible’, Heena Kim’s solo exhibition, runs from Tue 26 Oct until Sat 6 Nov 2010 in the Nest Gallery in Old Town. The opening reception is Thur 28 Oct 2010 from 6 – 10pm. We hope to see you there. Many thanks!

‘Visible vs. Invisible’

The visible and invisible refers to a special meaning involving the artist’s gaze, not merely describing visibility. It connotes an Artist’s intention to express differences within society, culture, ideology, and self-consciousness. The Artist pays more attention to a concealed ‘difference’ than revealed ‘difference’, referring to it as ‘the invisible world’.

Each subject may not recognise the existence of this world, but it is a significant piece of equipment, which makes the subject’s consciousness move, and makes a huge impact on expressing life. This equipment includes trauma, for example, as a type of damage to the psyche, caused by physical injury or psychological shock. The invisible world has a broader meaning in that it has no specific cause, and it, being unspecified, is significant. From the eye of an Artist, a visible world is just an illusion of unknown, indefinable devices. The Artist testifies through imagery that outward, superficial behavior and relationships constitute a membrane covering ‘an actual, essential element’. The property of the Artist’s work and the theme of this exhibition is penetrating the concealed behind the revealed to dig up the hidden.

Heena Kim’s work puts this imaginary world at the center of her narrative. She uses her imagination to transform the invisible into the visible world. She builds up an imaginary world by reconstructing and modifying images she saw in her dream and interesting elements in her life, with her imagination. The Artist however, could not clarify the source of her work’s form and narrative, because her imagination is ‘an emission of her consciousnesses. The physical and spiritual experiences, including a play making an imaginary world as a child, and the psychological oppression she experienced in London among heterogeneous cultures and various races, transform into a visual language through her imagination.

Interestingly, this new world and narrative made with her experience and imagination appears awkward, even to the Artist herself, and provokes her curiosity, which she explains as, “To do work means to explore my concealed self; to witness my self disclosed through work.”

Examining her work, common elements she often adopts appear. Pink Human, featuring severed pink body images, seems detached from surrounding objects, or appear in a small group. Alongside Pink Human, broccoli and penguins in diverse colors help her exploration of the inner world, conveying a narrative. Another significant element is pink-masses in every corner of her work. These are liquid masses that appear bright and splendid but flow heavily. This fluid assumes the role of a basis sustaining or covering other elements. These pink liquid masses appear as ever-changing characters, which signify the Artist’s intention to stress that the world is not an eternal space but a temporary imaginary place.

Oriental VisArt presents this exhibition to introduce her weird, uncanny, humorous art-world. It is hoped viewers will experience her invisible world visually and sympathise with her imagination.

Enjoy her work images!

A peaceful town in Telena / 120cm x 95cm / Acrylic and collage on canvas / 2010

 

Memory of the house / 100cm x 100cm / Acrylic on canvas / 2010

 

Dear M. C. Escher / 122cm x 122cm / Acrylic and collage on canvas / 2010

 

Shadow of the creatures / 30cm x 30cm x 18cm / Mixed media / 2008

 

Hard choice with the stairs / 102cm x 76cm / Acrylic and collage on canvas / 2010

 

Visible vs. Invisible / 60cm x 60cm / Acrylic on canvas / 2010