Chung-Im Kim is one of the participating artists in the Kaleidoscopic Korea: K-Lifestyle exhibition, which is on view at the KCC Gallery until April 5.

Registration for Chung-Im Kim Artist Talk: https://forms.gle/pLZ3yprd8UXCsLUM8

About the Artist

Chung-Im Kim has received accolades and exhibitions for her work in many prestigious institutions such as the Boston Museum of Art, the invitational Bojagi Exhibition at the Suwon Park Museum in Korea, the Museum Nagele in the Netherlands, the Wollongong Art Gallery in Australia, the Belgian Triennial Contemporary Textile Arts Exposition and the recent traveling exhibitions at the Poikilo Museum in Finland, Tamat Museum in Belgium, Dronninglund Kunstcenter in Denmark, and the Textilmuseum in Germany. Kim's design and execution have been honoured with prizes and awards in many international art competitions. She received her MFA from Seoul Women's University in 1984 and immigrated to Canada in 1990.  Since then, Kim had worked as freelance designer for many years and also taught at OCAD University in Toronto since 1997 until her retirement in 2021.  She is represented by the Oeno Gallery.  https://chungimkim.com/ 

Artist Statement

“fingerprints of the earth #1” and “fingerprints of the earth #2”  2021

"This set of two artwork was inspired by the formation of embedded marks permanently visible in the immense boulders of Big Bend National Park in Texas.  I wanted to explore the quiet but roaring scale of time and space in that environment. 

Geometry has always been deeply imbedded in my practice.  Being captivated by natural wonder, my enduring interest in geometries and mathematical structures was in some way revived/heightened by analyzing the found objects in natural world.  They exemplify the fundamental rules of pattern making in design and reveal the structural secrets through their architecture.  This essential understanding stimulates my imagination towards building a complex undulating surface with both regular and irregular modules.  The role of mathematical thinking in my work is as inevitable as that of nature itself.  Ideally, I would like to portray a coherent philosophy rooted in both nature and science, yet I would contrarily also like to shake up their logic in the hope that my work might transcend my current knowledge.  Or perhaps be allowed to become more spontaneous and less predictable."

Chung-Im Kim, fingerprints of the earth #1 & #2, 2021

“dawn”  2009

"The modules in many different scales and shapes in my work represent certain growths or changes brought about through passages of time.  I imagine them symbolizing the fragments of memories that we experience through our conscious/unconscious journeys.  Through them I want to explore the chaotic order resulting from many small pieces containing image fragments. I would like to see each of the parts as an independent soul presenting unique power and energy that then together become an entity as cells to a body.  In addition, the aesthetics of Korean bojagi has genuinely ingrained in my work even though they don’t necessarily appear so.  Especially the random swatches of the humble bojagi cloth were a big inspiration to craft the structure of my work as modules.  I hope to capture the unpretentious spirit from the traditional Korean bojagi and evoke a new birthing tension when all are gathered in my felt work."

Chung-Im Kim, dawn, 2009

Further information on the Kaleidoscopic Korea II: K-Lifestyle exhibition is available here.