pioneering artist returns to the big apple
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery presents Kimsooja‘s first solo exhibition with the gallery, marking her long-awaited return to New York for a solo present in practically twenty years. The present, titled ‘Meta-Portray,’ runs from April twelfth to June 14th, 2024, and showcases a collection of the artist’s key works, together with items from her ongoing sequence ‘To Breathe,’ ‘Bottari,’ ‘Deductive Object,’ and the titular ‘Meta-Portray.’
Kimsooja’s follow attracts closely on the idea of the bottari, a standard Korean bundle used to retailer and transport belongings. The bottari turns into a central motif, each bodily and metaphorically, representing not simply important possessions and a nomadic lifestyle, but in addition the universality of dwelling, migration, and the idea of being in transition.
Kimsooja, To Breathe, 2024 | all photographs courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles
kimsooja transforms the gallery with gentle
This two-part iteration of Kimsooja’s ‘To Breathe’ extends the bottari idea all through the New York gallery. Mild takes heart stage, remodeling the area with numerous types of illumination. Particular movies on the home windows refract pure gentle, creating iridescent landscapes that shift all through the day. Inside the principle exhibition area, a mirrored platform displays the gallery’s structure, inviting viewers to interact with their environment and ponder their very own reflection. Coloured gentle projected from above bathes the platform, creating an ever-changing tableau that explores the idea of portray with gentle and expands the normal definition of the artwork type.
Kimsooja, To Breathe, 2024
portray and sculptural explorations
Upstairs, a sequence of Kimsooja’s new ‘Meta-Work’ cling suspended from the ceiling, accompanied by bundled kinds paying homage to the bottari. These works delve into the essence of portray and its origins. The linen used within the Meta-Work was spun from flax that Kimsooja herself planted, cultivated, and harvested. This course of underscores the cyclical nature of creation, with the unpainted canvas embodying the connection between portray, agriculture, and textiles.
Kimsooja’s ‘Deductive Object’ is a wrapped, sculptural type that hints at delivery and dying. The ovoid form attracts inspiration from the Brahmanda stone, an Indian mythological image representing the origin of creation. Enveloped in deep black, the article absorbs gentle, whereas its mirrored base displays the encircling area, creating a way of infinite depth. ‘Deductive Object: (Un)fold’ makes use of crumpled hanji, Korean rice paper, that retains the imprint of the artist’s hand. These works are displayed alongside a sculptural stack of 500 sheets of hanji titled ‘Meta-Portray,’ which takes practically a yr to dry into its last type.
Kimsooja, Deductive Object, 2016
Kimsooja, Meta-Portray, 2024
Kimsooja, Meta-Portray, 2024
