Hyun Ryoung Kim:
Relational Space Catalogue Essay
- Kendra Ainsworth, Curator
Although Hyun Ryoung Kim’s large abstract paintings make
bold visual statements, their development stems from a place of quiet introspection
and contemplation. An emerging artist based in Mississauga, Kim was drawn to
art as a child but did not begin formal study until she emigrated to Canada
from Korea as an adult. Since taking classes at Visual Arts Mississauga and
pursuing a Fine Arts degree at Sheridan, her work has been featured in
exhibitions across Southern Ontario, and she has been recognized as “One to
Watch” by the renowned Saatchi galleries. The AGM’s XIT-RM exhibition presents recent
work that allows visitors to delve in to the style and philosophy of a no doubt
soon to be celebrated local artist. In her work, Kim explores relationships
between colours, shapes, figure and ground in a visual language that is at once
intellectual and emotive. Kim aims to depict both the ‘fact’ and the emotion of
the world around us; the sensorial as well as the spiritual
or ephemeral. With Relational Space,
Kim invites us to open up to the infinite possibilities of connection with and
exploration of the world around and within us.
One omnipresent element of this world, as it is played out
in these spare, ethereal and yet evocative works is a strong black line; a
striking contrast against the large expanses of white, and the pale, amorphous
blooms of colour that make up the canvas. To Kim, this line is a representation
of the force of fate in our lives, which for her is a given - a ‘fact’ - and
its incursions on the canvas are emblematic of fate’s interactions with all the
ideas, emotions, relationships and events in our lives, made manifest on her
canvases in large, gestural, abstract forms.
The black line of fate is juxtaposed with the visual
embodiment of the perhaps more capricious and ephemeral aspects of our lives; our
fleeting thoughts and desires, our brief encounters. Indeed, both on the plane
of the canvas and in life, it often seems that the external momentum of fate
threatens to intrude upon these internal, personal elements by force. But in
Kim’s work, however unyielding the black line of fate line may be, it sometimes
seems thrown off course, veering out of the way of the vibrant ebullience of
emotion. We are left with a sense of movement, contrast and change. Our lives
are constantly in flux; we constantly course correct based on new information,
events, and influences. Kim’s canvases speak to this resilience, mutability and
resourcefulness in the face of the monumental and unrelenting.