KIM DEOK HAN

Whitestone is pleased to present OVERLAID, an exhibition of new paintings by Korean artist Kim Deok Han. This is Kim’s second exhibition with Whitestone and his first solo exhibition in Taiwan. Opening on 15 August and view through 13 September 2020, it will include a series of works that collectively underscore the significance of memory and space.

Kim’s paintings adopt East Asian lacquer with sandpaper to create surface oscillating in colour and texture. His works reside delicately and elusively in abstraction, evoking the time and space of memories yet evading all literal reference. With their polished layers, Kim’s paintings register and generate minute shifts in perception, echoing resonance while creating their sensory silhouette.

Beginning with a blank canvas, Kim first applies a thin layer of lacquer. Then, he mixes lacquer with white clay to the second layer. In controlled and repetitive movements, Kim continues to add colours one layer at a time, often using sandpaper to polish the lacquers. Such practice leaves traces of the upper layer and sometimes reveals the hidden layers. The pattern is embedded onto the canvas in the manner of sedimentation or erosion. Every painting is methodically brought to a state of reflection by this systematic yet organic process. With his attention to detail and repetition, Kim’s expressive technique also reveals strong affinities with various Eastern practices, in its intensely meditative pattern-making, used to create imagery, narrative, or spiritual votive.

Kim Deok Han was born in Daegu in 1981. He now lives and works in Seoul. Kim graduated with an M.F.A. from Myongji University specializing in Art Conservation and Restoration in 2015 and a B.F.A. from Pai Chai University specializing in Korean Traditional Lacquering in 2009. He is also the recipient of the Arts Award at the 2nd Incarnation Cultural Arts Foundation (2019). His works had been exhibited in Korea and across the world, such as Lee Ungno Museum, Daejeon (2020), Whitestone Gallery, Hong Kong (2019) as well as Art Mora Gallery, New York (2016).