brilliant 30: Suyeon Kim

Suyeon Kim, “Reconstructing the Dematerialized"

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  Suyeon Kim’s work deliberately breaks down and then reconstructs visual objects. This act is the articulation of her society, environment and consciousness. Meta-reflections on the practice of representation make Kim an artist worthy of recognition in the contemporary art scene. Kim is neither tied down, nor opposed to the conventional painting genre. Far from being a “creative genius” or a “tech-savvy artist,” Kim approaches her subjects as a disengaged observer, and exhibits a unique aesthetic in her work.
  
  Kim’s paintings often have a tarnished look; this is because she chooses various photographic images as her main material. Rather than depicting actual objects, Kim chooses to deconstruct her medium before reconstructing her materials as a 3D collage, then translates the final product onto canvas.

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  Washed-out shades in Kim’s work indicate the passage of time and fading memory, and manifest fragments of mortality. Suyeon Kim’s intentional exclusion of pen and paper for the initial stages of her work corresponds to her unconventional decision to create frameless ‘photo-sculpture’ series.
  
  The artist’s way of relating to the world is to engage others in the fabrication process. The process of collecting and manipulating visual responses to keywords directed at varied groups within the audience is partly an artistic performance. It is also a decisive factor in determining the individuality of Kim’s work. Weather-beaten images correspond to traces of life, growing dim in our memories. Making collage mimics the process of making a movie set; it results from collaboration among different groups of people and through various stages of editing, structuring and producing. This gathering and progression is the main drive Kim’s work. She speaks of loss and sorrow in her visual languages.

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  Q. Have you ever felt time pressure in order to make enough work to fill the space?

  The fabrication time of my work is shorter than it looks. Of course, it would be great to have more time to prepare in advance, but more importantly, my work depends on randomness. This is why collecting visual responses from various people is very significant.

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  Q. The various stages of the process must require careful planning and development on your part. How do you get inspired?

  I depend a lot more on visual images than on words when I express myself. Once, I wrote down some keywords prior to writing a short essay. That was my first and last essay. After every exhibition, I discard all my works. I do this because I believe installation itself is not the final product but, rather a process, part of the cycle of dematerialization and reconstruction.