SWPK Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition, The Seasons, exhibiting works by Korean artist Bumin Kim (b. 1982). The exhibition will take place from October 2 to November 23, 2024 at the SWPK gallery. An opening reception with the artist will take place at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, October 2.
Bumin Kim explores the limits of her materials, employing thread and string in order to challenge the definition of painting. Through the act of stitching and weaving, Kim transforms two-dimensional surfaces into three-dimensional immersive experiences. Her works offer a recontextualization of thread and string, which emphasizes the energy and grace of drawing and painting.
The Seasons is the result of Kim's infatuation with nature's stubborn inconstancy. Each piece explores some of the profound transformations that our environment undergoes as well as the emotional depths which these changes unearth. Kim’s translation of seasonal changes also seeks to archive past experiences. The fluid changes in the weight of her lines, the subtle gradation of hues and the fluidity of her thread—especially prevalent in her Landscape series—invoke the transience of these memories, including the loss and potential recreation contained within. Also prevalent in these pieces is the dichotomy between light and dark, a juxtaposition which seeks to bring the capricious, outside world in communication with the internal.
Central to these works also is an emotional aporia. The workings of her thread embody a mood that is calm yet activated, restrained yet challenging, and simple yet complex. These dualities offer an unexpected sense of realism, as they mirror the frequent coexistence of seemingly opposed forces which exists both in the natural and our own internal worlds. Ultimately, The Seasons, in its exploration of temporality, paradoxically explores the timelessness of life’s journey, the cycles that connect us all, and the beauty found in the ever-shifting blow of existence. Kim, thus, invites her viewers to engage personally with the exhibition and discover their own reflections in the evocative threads which constitute her pieces.
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