Arario Gallery is pleased to announce its participation in the 'Spotlight' sector of Frieze Masters 2021, which will take place at The Regent's Park in London from 13 October to 17 October 2021. For this year's presentation at Frieze Masters', Arario Gallery will introduce the 'One Stroke of Painting (I-Hua)' and 'Saekdong' series by Soungui KIM.
The 'Spotlight' section, curated by Laura Hoptman (Executive Director of The Drawing Center, New York), champions a diverse group of artists; featuring solo presentations of works by key figures of 20th century avant-garde art. As one of Korea's first women artists to work in multimedia, Soungui KIM has contributed significantly to the Korean experimental art scene since the 1960s. She presented experimental performances and conceptual works, which combine philosophy, art, and technology, through the means of video, multimedia, sound, painting, and drawing.
Since moving to France in 1971, she has been active in establishing her career through creating and teaching. The artist's interest in Eastern and Western philosophies and her experimentation with various media has led KIM to create experiential and situational work. Among the artist's nonconforming attitudes, the idea of 'I-Hua' (one stroke of painting), archery, and 'Saekdong' (traditional Korean multicolored pattern) takes on an important role.
'One Stroke of Painting' is part of KIM's major series 'Painting of One Brush of Stroke (I-Hua)', which she created during her early years of working in France. The work draws inspiration from the central idea of the Holistic Brushstroke by Shitao, a leading Chinese artist from the early Qing Dynasty. Since high school, KIM was trained in Gukkung (traditional Korean archery). Archery, an activity, which combines acute mental judgment with nimble physical movement, represents the oneness of mind through a single shot of an arrow in Eastern philosophy.
'Saekdong', often appearing in KIM's target paintings, exemplifies the artist's interest in multimedia. For this year's presentation, Arario Gallery will focus on 'Saekdong Cloud', which reflects KIM's attitude of living like clouds, roaming freely above today's fast paced. Finding creative impulses from laziness, she discovers the essence of life and its infinite possibilities. 'Saekdong TV', an extension of the aforementioned work, visually resembles SMPTE color bars on television screens, which highlights Soungui KIM's continuous interest in new media technology.
Born in 1946 in Buyeo, Korea, KIM graduated from the Department of Painting at Seoul National University. In 1971, she was invited by the Centre Artistique de Rencontre International, Nice to continue her practice in France. Ever since her employment at École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Marseille in 1974, she has continued to work as a multimedia artist across France and Korea. In 2019, KIM held a large-scale retrospective exhibition, Lazy Clouds at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea and participated in the group exhibition Another Energy: Power to Continue Challenging – 16 Women Artists from around the World at Mori Art Museum, Japan curated by Mami Kataoka earlier this year. The artist is also scheduled to hold a solo show at ZKM, Germany in 2022.