Soo Hee Kim has constantly explored 'function' and 'use' of an object and her work starts from the ambiguous relationship between these. She focuses on a role of the object to be defined and sorts their relationship in terms of a given situation. For example, while a body remembers and reacts to it before thinking of its function when facing with a familiar thing like a chair, people infers its use when seeing an unfamiliar one. Like this, the artist expresses two contrary situations not coincidentally encountered as connecting to her artistic experience.
For this exhibition, the artist shows daily objects on the boundary between practicality and unpracticality as an unusual medium in his own way. In terms of the function of them which the artist analogized, she creates totally different and unpredictable works.
Kim’s works are real, yet they hold no recognisable place at the table of reality. We are invited to dwell in the circumstance of this sublime moment, and yet she is not the first artist to do so as she stands in very good company. Nearly one hundred years ago, Marcel Duchamp placed a men’s latrine into an art exhibition demanding the viewer question their understanding of what is to be considered art. A different question to that which Kim asks, and yet the experience is lived in the single moment of comprehending the question and the subsequent journey required to find the answer.
Kim’s works are real, yet they hold no recognisable place at the table of reality. We are invited to dwell in the circumstance of this sublime moment, and yet she is not the first artist to do so as she stands in very good company. Nearly one hundred years ago, Marcel Duchamp placed a men’s latrine into an art exhibition demanding the viewer question their understanding of what is to be considered art. A different question to that which Kim asks, and yet the experience is lived in the single moment of comprehending the question and the subsequent journey required to find the answer.
Kim opens a conversation of the missing contents, whose apparently recognisable features offer the viewer a place of pleasure - the thought that reason should not exceed presentation - or pain - accepting imagination should not exceed the concept. In that moment of understanding the ambiguity of these objects and our subsequent reaction to this feeling, we are invited to dwell and open our minds to new possibilities and consciousness. The theoretical journey may indeed be long, but we must have open minds as the shadow of Duchamp reaches well into the 21C. Perhaps with time Kim’s Egg Drier 2009 and the subsequent performance, or pieces such as Stair Case 2001 and Safety Gate 2012 will come to exemplify the early work of a growing reputation. There is little doubt she continues a dialogue touched upon by amongst others Joseph Beuys, and not just in the nature of the materials used but in the apparent random nature of the questions she asks. But do not be fooled as there is nothing random at work here. Kim demonstrates a focused line of thought and questioning which will hold greater meaning as her body of work expands. With time artists theoretical and working practices begin to develop, inspiring new avenues of work. It won’t be long before Kim begins to scale the heights where reputations are formed, and perhaps witness her own growing shadow.
- Andrew Mitchell (Critic)
Courtesy of SongEun ArtCube
