 Control Tower 2010 |
 Gyedong 2010 |
 Jeongup: Clean up th... 2009 |
 The Park 2006 |
Artists Statement
Kim BoMin Combines actually existing contemporary cityscapes and ancient Landscapes that can no longer be seen in reality. She chooses places that are connected to her in some way, from familiar views of her studio or home. back alleys, parks, symbolize the contemporary world such as expressways, and bird's-eye views of larger landscapes. Her painting provide evidence of what life is like in the contemporary world and present us with symbols of artificial contemporary society.
Each painting includes views of old parts of the city, images of nature that show its effortless beauty and abundance, and mental landscapes that exist only in memory. Modern cities are continually transformed at incredible speeds, and old landscapes are quickly lost as new buildings are constructed. Nostalgic landscapes caught in the floe of modernization are left behind as memories.
The artificial contemporary landscapes in Kim's pictures are formed with straight, sharp outlines that give a mechanical impression. These outlines are not drawn or painted but constructed with pieces of black tapes attached to the linen support. By way of contrast, the organic images - traditional mountain and river landscapes or plant life - are painted delicately in ink and colored with mineral pigments. Light strikes "nature" framed in studio windows or embedded in advertising signs at a bus stop, breathing life into the picture. These paintings show a kind of paradise where ancient times co-exist with the present and nature is juxtaposed with artificiality, "a landscape that is forever out of reach".
- Kitazawa Hiromi (Curator, NANJO and ASSOCIATES, 2009)
