Kris Kim

Kris Kim is an installation and light-based artist as well as a painter with an extensive exhibition background which includes shows in South Korea, Japan, India, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Israel, China, Thailand, Taiwan, Greece, Philippines, Mexico, Czech Republic, Australia, Sweden, Ukraine, Russia, New Zealand, and Egypt. Most recent solo exhibitions include Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka, Japan, Stanley Museum of Art in Iowa City, Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, and The Kulturwerkstatt Auf AEG in Nürnberg, Germany. Recent collective exhibitions include Börse Dresden Center in Dresden, Germany, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn, and Ardel Gallery in Bangkok. Kris has participated in residencies at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, California and the International Center For The Arts in Monte Castello di Vibio, Italy.

For the purpose of this article, we will be focusing on Kris Kim’s installations and light art. The various forms of installations contain brightly-colored geometrical spheres and squares with indentures and linearity infused with their three-dimensional forms. These works are essentially minimalist and abstract, however express conceptual notions steeped in psychological states such as solitude, inner tension, and questioning perceptions based in illusion. The ‘key’ to the expressions can be found in the linearity contained within the works. Whether through mouth-like curvature on colored spheres or squiggly lines and inconsistent luminous linear patterns guided by bright neon lights, the installations and light works reveal a manipulation of optics within a confined room.

In conceptual practice, Kris Kim’s works are exercises in relationships with space. These large installations and light artworks seem to dominate a gallery with their dynamic colors and sensual forms. The attention to the craftsmanship and subtle curvature suggests both minimality and complexity simultaneously. Such a dichotomy presents an enigma but also a great sense of balance and harmony as the forms are usually symmetrically contoured upon the planes of perspective. Through great metaphysical planes which suggest superhuman powers enabled through the overarching scale and perfection of equilibrium, Kris Kim’s works reveal how subtlety can have a lasting impact beyond initial notions well beyond the capacity of first impressions and encouraging further thought and contemplation of these versatile installations.

Luminis, LED Light Panel (pictured above) represents one of Kris Kim’s exciting light installations. This ominous blue screen of linearity seems to present upon the viewer a wall or door-like structure dominating a space not just through scale but also penetrating luminosity within the darkened gallery. Such an investigative piece reflects on how structures can be manufactured to reflect a puristic notion of how a configuration can manipulate the senses and emotions of the audience.

Kris Kim’s portfolio represents a great exercise in fluidity and extending forms beyond capacity of initial assumptions. These prevailing works represent not only minimalism and abstraction but also a deep conceptual purpose on how we treat geometry and forms of structure within a space when composed towards us. Through a well-rounded approach based in extending aesthetic principles into conceptual avenues, the artist presents us with linearity and curvature which play on our emotions and has us ponder on the mystery and suspense of integrations between form, color, space, curvature, linear-patterns, and even the manipulation and distortion of light. With a cerebral, conceptual approach to abstraction either based on a state of flux or careful sense of planning, the artworks of Kris Kim dance on the dichotomies between reality and illusion in contemporary art.

https://www.kriskim.org