P21 is pleased to present Today's Weather, a solo exhibition of new work by Suyeon Kim, on view from 8t July to 6 August. The presentation is an expansion on her 'weather' series which she has continuously explored throughout her career, particularly taking interest in the relationship between data and tool-tips to form carefully calculated compositions on a picture plane. For her past solo exhibition Hold Me held in 2021 at Gallery2, she had collected experiences of various climactic phenomena such as rain, wind, rainbow, sleet, etc., as images, then had them translated on canvas as a selection of specific objects. Kim's method of practice can be seen as a reconstruction of scenes by outputting images as tangible objects and meticulously conveying this on canvas. While establishing a certain distance and time gap between the artist and the work, she projects her experiences and association of moments on a visual plane.

The artist, however, constantly questions the subjectivity of image interpretation and production that is inevitably encountered in her pictorial methodology. While the setting of creating a 'model' (reconstruction of scenes) maintains a certain distance between the object and the artist, Kim consistently examines whether her exploration of painting itself goes beyond mere representation. Through Today's Weather, Kim addresses this issue by resetting the relationship between data and tools. Until now, the artist had defined 'data' as a sequence of memorable scenes and accounts, and tools such as brushes, pens, oil sticks as a means of execution for realising her intentions of painting. However, in her new work included in the 'wind series,' she models conditions by linking data and tools that can independently produce images. This is also to assess the possibly unavoidable factors that influence the way the canvas is composed during the 'modeling' stage.

Wind is the flow of air due to difference in pressure. Atmospheric pressure is the density of air, which varies depending on the temperature of the ground or water surface. The artist records this movement by preparing a device that specifically tracks such wind motions caused by the temperature difference. By using a suspended painting tool, such as a brush or pen, the artist documents the movement of wind, similar to how a seismometer reports vibration. The trajectory of the nib scribbled on the notebook as it wobbles around is reminiscent of a vector graph determined by direction and magnitude. Just as a graph is constructed of a combination of data and indications (points or lines), the artist collects vector data referred to as 'wind movement,' and makes a visual rendering using a tool suitable for each day's weather, amalgamating into a portrayal of today's weather. The tool-tip is replaced everyday causing the changes in shape.

The model the artist has been developing for painting so far integrates data accumulated over time and movement. Kim observes the movement of the tool from the xy-axis plane and discerns the change in force from the z-axis by evaluating the bluntness or sharpness of the marks, then conscientiously traces and studies the modes of painting according to the tools. The artist sees 'weather' as a manifestation of power and metaphors for personal experiences and emotions into mediated objects. The various landscapes that unfold in Today's Weather display the trajectories of power recorded "today" and the objectified emotions soaring through them.

Text by Hayoung Song, Chohoon Choi

Press release courtesy P21.