Kim
Hyun-Sik
b. 1965, South Korea
Kim Hyun-Sik was born in Sancheong (South Korea) in 1965 and graduated from the College of Fine Art at Hongik University.
His work borders on sculpture. Alongside hyper-realistic figurative paintings, in which he already creates a certain degree of ambiguity in series that depict women's heads from behind, Kim Hyun-Sik has completely shifted towards abstraction over the years. He cultivates the in-between, alternating the palpable space of the resin and tiny furrows that vein the surface of his work, the space the eye is drawn to. In addition to aesthetic ambitions, his work unveils something, as if revealing an evanescent and deeper reality, observing what evades the superficial nature of our gaze and stemming from some inner drive.
His vibrantly coloured pieces initially resemble magnificent monochromes. We perceive the colour in majesty, in all of its hypnotic radiance, which is materialised and sublimated by the epoxy resin that gives it its body and a translucent and nuanced quality. However, it quickly becomes noticeable that these vibrant areas are not smooth and uniform and that they have a secret architecture. There is no transparency, but rather a kind of chromatic echo that inhabits these juxtapositions of vertical grooves, which are of varying depths, and the tiny translucent spaces that defy perception. The artist reveals the invisible through a kind of fine fragmentation of the surface, through the ebb and flow of light and colour, which suggests ambiguous narratives. Lines and colours, which are fundamental and basic elements of painting, are intimately linked, with the line seemingly held in the space. Appearance and disappearance coexist and blend, kindling an extensive range of emotions because each viewer will immerse themselves in a different way. Through the material and the repetitive treatment of these tiny lines, Hyun-Sik Kim gives traditional Korean painting a modern twist and a new automatism that borders on illusion.
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Kim Hyun-Sik was born in Sancheong (South Korea) in 1965 and graduated from the College of Fine Art at Hongik University.
His work borders on sculpture. Alongside hyper-realistic figurative paintings, in which he already creates a certain degree of ambiguity in series that depict women's heads from behind, Kim Hyun-Sik has completely shifted towards abstraction over the years. He cultivates the in-between, alternating the palpable space of the resin and tiny furrows that vein the surface of his work, the space the eye is drawn to. In addition to aesthetic ambitions, his work unveils something, as if revealing an evanescent and deeper reality, observing what evades the superficial nature of our gaze and stemming from some inner drive.
His vibrantly coloured pieces initially resemble magnificent monochromes. We perceive the colour in majesty, in all of its hypnotic radiance, which is materialised and sublimated by the epoxy resin that gives it its body and a translucent and nuanced quality. However, it quickly becomes noticeable that these vibrant areas are not smooth and uniform and that they have a secret architecture. There is no transparency, but rather a kind of chromatic echo that inhabits these juxtapositions of vertical grooves, which are of varying depths, and the tiny translucent spaces that defy perception. The artist reveals the invisible through a kind of fine fragmentation of the surface, through the ebb and flow of light and colour, which suggests ambiguous narratives. Lines and colours, which are fundamental and basic elements of painting, are intimately linked, with the line seemingly held in the space. Appearance and disappearance coexist and blend, kindling an extensive range of emotions because each viewer will immerse themselves in a different way. Through the material and the repetitive treatment of these tiny lines, Hyun-Sik Kim gives traditional Korean painting a modern twist and a new automatism that borders on illusion.
Read more...
His vibrantly coloured pieces initially resemble magnificent monochromes. We perceive the colour in majesty, in all of its hypnotic radiance, which is materialised and sublimated by the epoxy resin that gives it its body and a translucent and nuanced quality. However, it quickly becomes noticeable that these vibrant areas are not smooth and uniform and that they have a secret architecture. There is no transparency, but rather a kind of chromatic echo that inhabits these juxtapositions of vertical grooves, which are of varying depths, and the tiny translucent spaces that defy perception. The artist reveals the invisible through a kind of fine fragmentation of the surface, through the ebb and flow of light and colour, which suggests ambiguous narratives. Lines and colours, which are fundamental and basic elements of painting, are intimately linked, with the line seemingly held in the space. Appearance and disappearance coexist and blend, kindling an extensive range of emotions because each viewer will immerse themselves in a different way. Through the material and the repetitive treatment of these tiny lines, Hyun-Sik Kim gives traditional Korean painting a modern twist and a new automatism that borders on illusion.
