Spontaneous Hesitation by Woo KIM

"...Is it because Woo KIM left her work in cars to devote herself to her art that I feel close to her ? Or because her new work, Spontaneous Hesitation, speaks of both the fear and excitement that grips us when we change lives? You got it, I feel moved by Woo KIM’s work..."

Portrait of Woo KIM in her studio  ©Philippe Graton, 2020.06.16

Philippe Graton, French photographer and scenarist of the film Michel Vaillant, wrote it in his famous project "The Wednesday Shot" along with the portrait of the artist taken in Kim's studio. (The Wednesday Shot)

Brussels, Spontaneous Hesitation by Woo KIM

On June 17, 2020, Woo KIM's solo exhibition “Spontaneous Hesitation” was held at Solvay Library in Brussels, Belgium. The exhibition took place shortly after the Belgian government's quarantine measure had started being relaxed. As written by Philippe Graton, Woo KIM expressed her hesitation and excitement about her first solo exhibition in Europe through her works. Woo KIM, who had left SouthKorea for studying art in France 10 years ago, as an Asian and engineer-based artist, has kept working and holding exhibitions in France and Belgium until now.

Movement(i), Woo KIM, acrylic on canvas, 113 x 145,5cm, 2020

Exhibition view, Spontaneous Hesitation by Woo KIM, Solvay Library, Brussels, Belgium ©Xavier Portela

Installation of the paintings with the idea of KKOT-BAT

In this exhibition, which Woo KIM planned and installed for herself in the imagination of KKOT-BAT (꽃밭, flower garden in Korean), 25 pieces of flat paintings were shown in the form of installation, including six of the Stone series realized in 2013 and nine of the Spring series realized in 2020. The Stone series is a work that embraces those questions about the origin of humanity and the uniqueness or the originality of the painting, and is also the outcome of her dedication on artworks right after giving birth to her first child when she belonged to Rennes Beaux-Arts in France. The Spring series is a work done during the containment period by Covid-19 in Belgium, and the original shapes in the series come from the work of DEONGEORI (덩어리, lump in Korean), a concept that Woo KIM has established since 2018.

Deongeoris, Woo KIM, 2020 

Painting laid without wall, acrylic painting on three concrete white bricks covered with transparent glue, 91 x117cm/ 96 x 140 x 20cm ©Xavier Portela

Garden, Woo KIM, 2018 

Painting laid without wall, acrylic painting on a concrete white brick covered with transparent glue, 30 x30cm/ 35 x 60 x 20cm © Xavier Portela

In the imagination of the movement of wildflowers

Woo KIM's Spring series begins with Deongoeris, a plane painting of black background and also consists of other paintings arranged as installation, Movement, Narcissus(i), Narcissus(ii), and In the KKOT-BAT: Memory with Grandma. Woo KIM, mainly working on paintings and installations with the theme of "mutual relations", expresses the movements of the moment with maximized curves in her paintings. This Spring series shows further more dynamic movement comparing to the Deongeoris in 2019 because it was inspired by the absence of the spring and the flowers,especially wildflowers having natural curves rather than the trimmed flowers for packaging at the flower shop. In addition, Woo KIM said that in the beginning of the containment period when the atmosphere was full of desolation, she was moved by the flowers daffodils that she came across during a walk around her house in mid-March.  And then she could make the two works titled the "Narcissus". 

Narcissus (i), Movement (i), Narcissus (ii), Woo KIM, 2020 

Painting laid without wall, acrylic painting on white bricks covered with transparent glue © Xavier Portela

Narcissus (ii), 2020 

Painting laid without wall, 91 x 117cm/ 211 x 117 x 20cm

Acrylic painting on twelve concrete white bricks covered with transparent glue © Xavier Portela

Daffodil. Flower of the hesitation

"...I am moved by the simple and delicate appearance of daffodils(Narcissus is the Latin name of daffodil). Unlike the other flowers that grow in the yard, daffodils endure the barren environment, like the weeds in the field, and burst into bloom in the cold. We often easily pass by this strong-willed flower because of its colors, which are so common along the road. But if you keep looking, you can discover their own beauty. This mysterious flower keeps onlookers feeling breathless. Because the more the flower opens, the lower its head hangs at the end of the peduncle. Then my two eyes follow the line of this curved stem, and naturally allow me look at the flower in more detail. The daffodil is a monochromatic flower with only 5-6 petals, but it can make very different aesthetic forms, depending on the viewing angle and time. The nuances of the colors created by the shadows of the overlapping petals (caused with the occasional sunshine) are enough to add to the daffodils' minimal beauty..." (Artist's statement, June 2020)

In the KKOT-BAT : Memory with Grandma, Woo KIM, 2020

Acrylic paintings laid without wall  © Xavier Portela

Exhibition View 2020 © Xavier Portela

She thought of the grave from the KKOT-BAT

On the other hand, In the KKOT-BAT: Memory with Grandma (installation painting, 2020) is a work that began with the imagination of the "flower garden" of Korea. For Woo KIM, KKOT-BAT, flower garden in English, is a word that reminds her of the memories with her grandmother. "When I was young, I was always afraid that my grandmother would die some day. So I told her I would bury her in the KKOT-BAT when she died. I lived in an apartment at that time, so there was no flower garden at home. But I felt like that I had a KKOT-BAT close to my home. My grandmother kept telling this story even when I was an adult, and each time she looked very happy. KKOT-BAT is a place like a small hill piled up with soil to protect flowers, and the border is surrounded by stones. KKOT-BAT differs from the western gardens in principle by not planting grass because of an old Korean perception that the grass covers the grave, not the garden. "I might think unconsciously that the grave and KKOT-BAT were related. KKOT-BAT is the closest place to home, where I can always go to see (my grandmother), And it is also a place where spring is forever with overflowing flowers." (Artist's statement, June 2020)

Hope for Flowers, 2015

Woo KIM's first work with flowers firstly was realized in 2015, Hope for Flowers (installation, 2015). This work is the artist's attempt to capture the movement of the moment by gazing at the change in color, an important element of painting, as the flowers dry out gradually. This work was selected as the representative image of the art competition of the Belgian city Nivelles in 2020.

Hope for Flowers, Woo KIM, dries flowers, transparent tulles, painted vinyls, 2015

 Link for Hope for Flowers (2015) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur7nYQBcYHM

Discovery of the curved-lines in the squares

The followings images are Woo KIM's Stone series and Four Square series (Quatre Carrés), which is a study of curves through color planes.

Exhibition View 2020 © Xavier Portela

Untitled, Woo KIM, oil on canvas, 198,5 x 138,5cm, 2013 © Xavier Portela

Four paintings laid in the box painted with the Screen Purple color by Woo KIM, 125 x 61 x 5,6cm

The Series Quatre Carrés, Woo KIM, 2020 © Xavier Portela

Quatre Carrés, Woo KIM, oil painting on wood panel covered with ottchil, 30 x 23x 3,2cm, 2020

Woo KIM and Deongeori

Woo KIM, born in Seoul, South Korea in 1982, is a contemporary artist, mainly working on paintings and installations with the theme of "mutual relations". The artist graduated from one of the high-level engineering schools in Korea (KAIST) and in France (École des Ponts et Chaussées) changed to artist afterworking for an automobile company for two years in 2010. In 2013, after having DNAP from Rennes Beaux-Arts, Woo KIM decided to move to Belgium to studypainting and received the master's degree from Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in 2016. She has developed a concept, Deongeori since 2018. The Spring series is also an extension of the Deongeori. Deongeori is how she views the world. Deongeor is which vibrate themselves appear in different colors and shapes every moment. These Deongeoris create also different flows every moment.

Deongeoris, Woo KIM, acrylic on wood panel, 116,8 x 218cm, 2019

The exhibition was organized by Edificio(www.edificio.be), a Belgian company specialized in cultural events and gatherings. The exhibition place, Solvay Library was founded in 1902 by Ernst Solvay as a sociological research institute, and has been registered as a Belgian monument since 1986.