Exhibition : KIM Woo-jin : SIGNATURE
Let’s pause for a moment and look at the fingertips.
The never-changing whorls and valley patterns make up the fingerprints appear on the pads of fingers. Our body has a way to preserve the unique pattern even if the new cells grow throughout the time. It is a permanent biological signature. In other words, it’s a part of our body, perhaps the most remarkable of all, that never loses its originality from birth throughout the lifetime, though our body and mind is on the state of constant change within.
Now imagine entering a large exhibition hall. A mixture of various artworks from many artists, in different genres, style, and medium are present before you. All sudden, you are to find a animal standing gracefully, unusually large in scale, vivid in color. you are relatively experienced art lover, you will easily be identifying the unmistakable animal as the work of Woo-jin KIM's. The strong primary colors such as red and blue, yellow, and green, and the shapes of animals, serve as the indicators of his work. Such distinction is achieved through the prolific work of KIM that has been lasting over a decade, yet never to lose his strong identity, the signature of KIM. It has been so far, his artistic fingerprints are the combination of primary colors, a coloring technique and the shape of an animal.
Dog, 2022, Urethane coating on Aluminium, 53 × 57 × 16 cm
When it comes to the experiment, KIM Woo-jin's attempts are rather bold. His experiment with material includes applying discarded rubber basket or plastic chair in random open spaces, which he was able to strengthen the meaning of his work by connecting the context and the meaning inherent in these materials. For example, plastic, a material that was initially used to ensure the durability of the work, was replaced to stainless steel units. In the attempt, due to the consistency of the stainless-steel units, the stronger suggestion was created which gave the new sense to the animal shapes from the earlier works with conventional plastic. He also started adding more colors and expressions as his works achieved more maturity.
Cow, 2022, Urethane coating on Aluminium, 53 × 85 × 16 cm
The artwork of KIM is goes through flow of variations, yet the core—the artistic fingerprint of KIM—has remained. To sum up, KIM's signature is the common elements that can be found throughout his work, giving him a power of freedom in an artistic creation through clear, cohesive, and strong identity in variations within his journey. This allows him to explore and challenge his own work, while remaining as the artist himself. Meanwhile the work of KIM accumulates, though the variation of the work expands, the signature becomes more solid. The artistic balance that KIM aims is the reed-like flexibility that allows both contraction and expansion of the artistic boundary while maintaining the fingerprint, the signature.
Deer, 2022, Urethane coating on Stainless, 86 × 87 × 20 cm
The new works that will be presented at the exhibition focus on approaching the artistic balance. KIM Woo-jin is going through another experiment that taking the plasticity, which often had been his approach, out and add flatness, while the material range includes aluminum with its attempt to expand further. The audiences are expected to experience the set of works through this new variation by KIM, still in "The Colorful".
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