Jiana Kim
b. 1972, South Korea
Originally from South Korea, Jiana Kim completed a PhD in crafts and design in Seoul before finishing her artistic training in the United States, at Montclair State University and then in New York. She chose porcelain as a means of expressing herself, not as a ceramicist but for what she refers to as ‘drawing with light’, a concept that is very rich because it also involves a certain degree of immateriality. Her technique lends itself to many different variations in hybrid compositions, which play with texture via a language that is shared with sculpture and painting.
The appearance of the first ceramic pieces in the Korean peninsula dates back to the Neolithic period. Their rich history has seen a gradual shift from simple, everyday items to captivating works of art, beauty and elegance. They accompany the historical and social development of Korea and many contemporary artists associate this material with their creative lexicon. Like many of her compatriots, Jiana Kim creates a new path that goes beyond traditional Korean aesthetics, by reinterpreting heritage to align it with modernity, with this dual requirement giving it an original and assertive character.
However, Jiana Kim’s approach is not just sculptural. She creates her aesthetic by linking a centuries-old medium and artform with monochrome, in an exceptional intersection of the material and immaculate whiteness or colour. She fires sheets of clay, which are then broken and delicately affixed to a porcelain plate. She then assembles these fragments with sharp edges on paintings, which refer to the fragility and translucent quality of the porcelain in equal measure, by creating small universes on the surface to which they are attached. The material moves away from typical codes to flourish again in a new, freer, more emotive manner, which is carried by a new flow. What is striking about this means of expression is that it integrates two essential aspects of life: destruction and creation, which are imbued with meaning, emotion and imagination. Light, which is an essential condition for visibility, first reveals the object and the essential immaterial material, not only of the painter, but also the architect and the sculptor. Translucent porcelain is passed through by light, but only diffuses a portion of the rays. The silence of the monochrome, the ballet of the fragments and the purity of the porcelain diffusing the colour resonate with the environment. The spirit and the eye find respite here.
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Originally from South Korea, Jiana Kim completed a PhD in crafts and design in Seoul before finishing her artistic training in the United States, at Montclair State University and then in New York. She chose porcelain as a means of expressing herself, not as a ceramicist but for what she refers to as ‘drawing with light’, a concept that is very rich because it also involves a certain degree of immateriality. Her technique lends itself to many different variations in hybrid compositions, which play with texture via a language that is shared with sculpture and painting.
The appearance of the first ceramic pieces in the Korean peninsula dates back to the Neolithic period. Their rich history has seen a gradual shift from simple, everyday items to captivating works of art, beauty and elegance. They accompany the historical and social development of Korea and many contemporary artists associate this material with their creative lexicon. Like many of her compatriots, Jiana Kim creates a new path that goes beyond traditional Korean aesthetics, by reinterpreting heritage to align it with modernity, with this dual requirement giving it an original and assertive character.
However, Jiana Kim’s approach is not just sculptural. She creates her aesthetic by linking a centuries-old medium and artform with monochrome, in an exceptional intersection of the material and immaculate whiteness or colour. She fires sheets of clay, which are then broken and delicately affixed to a porcelain plate. She then assembles these fragments with sharp edges on paintings, which refer to the fragility and translucent quality of the porcelain in equal measure, by creating small universes on the surface to which they are attached. The material moves away from typical codes to flourish again in a new, freer, more emotive manner, which is carried by a new flow. What is striking about this means of expression is that it integrates two essential aspects of life: destruction and creation, which are imbued with meaning, emotion and imagination. Light, which is an essential condition for visibility, first reveals the object and the essential immaterial material, not only of the painter, but also the architect and the sculptor. Translucent porcelain is passed through by light, but only diffuses a portion of the rays. The silence of the monochrome, the ballet of the fragments and the purity of the porcelain diffusing the colour resonate with the environment. The spirit and the eye find respite here.
Read more...
However, Jiana Kim’s approach is not just sculptural. She creates her aesthetic by linking a centuries-old medium and artform with monochrome, in an exceptional intersection of the material and immaculate whiteness or colour. She fires sheets of clay, which are then broken and delicately affixed to a porcelain plate. She then assembles these fragments with sharp edges on paintings, which refer to the fragility and translucent quality of the porcelain in equal measure, by creating small universes on the surface to which they are attached. The material moves away from typical codes to flourish again in a new, freer, more emotive manner, which is carried by a new flow. What is striking about this means of expression is that it integrates two essential aspects of life: destruction and creation, which are imbued with meaning, emotion and imagination. Light, which is an essential condition for visibility, first reveals the object and the essential immaterial material, not only of the painter, but also the architect and the sculptor. Translucent porcelain is passed through by light, but only diffuses a portion of the rays. The silence of the monochrome, the ballet of the fragments and the purity of the porcelain diffusing the colour resonate with the environment. The spirit and the eye find respite here.
