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May Issue 2005
Charleston Art Gallery & Portrait Studio in Charleston, SC, Offers Works by Yong Kim
Kim was born in South Korea and came to the States at age thirteen. He has a Master's degree in philosophy from University of Massachusetts-Amherst. "Other than doodling constantly as a kid, I have no background in art. People ask me about philosophy, about its influence on my paintings, and I'm inclined to say, at first, that it had no influence. But perhaps not. I am familiar with the history of art and have thought long and hard about various aesthetic theories, about even the very definition of art. And in my view it has nothing to do with representation, even the 'mysterious' representation of the artist's mind. While some have called me an abstract expressionist, noting some similarities with Jackson Pollock, I think that would be a mistake. I am not expressing some emotion or some content of my mind; my paintings are not puzzles, they're not abstract representations of anything at all."
Kim also adds, "To me art is, in essence, simply colors and shapes. While this sounds very simplistic and formal, it suggests infinite possibilities to explore, and it is my curiosity about these possibilities that got me to pick up a brush one day and start painting. Every painting is an experiment, an adventure with indefinite destination."
"In this exhibit, I've gathered several pieces that seem to fit visually, that might loosely be described as 'loud and bright' much like rock and roll music," says Kim. "Bright colors are made even brighter by locally contrasting with black or globally contrasting with darker colors. The simplicity of the foreground contrasts with the more smooth, continuous, and complex background, and this contrast in shape makes the contents stand out, making them 'louder'. There are visual cues - shapes that suggest trees, leaves, buildings, etc., but they're not representational. They're used, as words and symbols are used in some, for purely visual effect. What is important to me is not what they represent but how they visually affect the paintings. Likewise, though I do not care about the representational content of representational art, many impress me because of what they do visually. If I were to go further with the music analogy, I might say that I care about the melody, the rhythm, the harmony, etc. but not about the words. In fact, I'm using words, when I do, not to make a statement, but to affect the rhythm, the melody, the overall sound. It is the sound that I care about in music, not the words, and it is the look that I care about in paintings, not what they're about. But the words in music and the visual cues in paintings do affect the overall sound and the overall look respectively and are used for that purpose in the case of my paintings."
For further infomation check our SC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 843/724-3424 or at (www.charlestonartgallery.com).
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