Interview with KIM HYE JI
When a note is played on a string, it has its sound and then generates a rhythm when more than one single note is placed around and next to it. Strings of rhythm lead to a unique melody in the sound space, where the particular harmony is created and exists within itself.
Within the perception of my artwork, I believe that it works in very much the same way to more than just one moment that we could experience on a daily basis. Each day newly created and formed moments give us art pieces, if we are willing to grasp them from our daily lives.
Practically the same objects remain there today as they did yesterday. For example, a tree, a building colored in beige, a bench, and a tiny flower bed on the street remain the same as yesterday. However, I believe they are colored differently each day. Perhaps, this change is impacted by winds and could make a touch. Dropping down and lighting up by sunlight could make a touch, and what we have gotten in a day could give them color to change their form.
In addition to the artwork process, the change could also be applied to our life in the same context when viewing a life as a sequence of experiences. As life conducts various types of emotions, they come and pass in fleeting moments from us or last longer than we thought. Perhaps, some of the emotions could last permanently, but also, they could be vague enough and lose comprehension. More than what they are, however, the most important aspect is that they come to us and take a place and / or space within us, which eventually can make a small or big influence in our lifetime. Eventually they drive us to make a move when we’re on board to travel within the wave of emotions. This usual circulation may make us suffer sometimes as well as can possibly bring us great joy. And I believe that it’s worthy enough to describe and try to say something about it, even if it’s nothing more than sharing.
I do have my own story and I live in it like everyone does. What I’m doing by walking through my own story would have words to co-communicate.
Can you tell us about your background and what initially drew you to art? Were there any significant influences or experiences in your early life that led you to pursue a career in art?
I was in fashion design department and fashion design was my first and only dream for me. When I was cultivating my fashion career in Paris, The one that I loved the most used to love what I painted, so it gave me biggest motivation to keep on painting works in my free times. And when I was still in fashion design filed, painting also do me a trick, I don’t know why but when I think of my adolescence, I was always playing with babie dolls or drawing oil painting and doing some ceramic works for kids.
How does the concept of rhythm and melody in sound translate into your visual artwork, and how do you capture the essence of these musical elements in your paintings?
As notes are components of rhythm and melody in the music, colors function same way to create lines, textures or objects on canvas. For example, same color used for two different paintings, they gives several impressions and storytellings by composition with different colors and by different techniques applied on each paintings. This is the point of my view in my artworks with the sense in music/ when the music gets newly produced songs within newly produced harmony with other instrument or with different pattern of beat to apply.
You mention that everyday objects like trees, buildings, and benches change their appearance daily. Can you elaborate on how you incorporate these subtle daily changes into your art?
You're art curator in your gallery where numerous artworks are around, and out of your gallery, there are so habitual view around either. Same trees and same placement of benches or buildings, however when sun's up and goes down, they get covered up in different colors even they got own colors on them. And when rain falls or wind hits them out, they get different movements or destruction. Perhaps, it's just personally my kind of point of view, but emotional expression expansion works in observation of 'everyday objects' especially their colors and movements
In your philosophy, you talk about life as a sequence of experiences similar to a melody. How does this philosophy influence your choice of subjects and themes in your paintings?
I can say about classic music with this question, there are always having storytelling sound in classic music department. That’s why I love the term in classic music such as ’crescendo’, ’decrescendo’, ’staccato’ and ‘fermata’. Because life experiences we have to face could be described with those terms time by time. As much as differences about putting classic music’s terms on personal experiences, I chose the subject of my artwork with my point of view seeing what happens in my life.
You describe emotions as fleeting yet impactful and sometimes even permanent. How do you visually represent these complex and varying emotional states in your artwork?
When you thinking of your random day you have to deal with small and big troubles in your work, for example, you can remind of stress back then. But it doesn’t give you overwhelming anger or leave you traumatic anxiety. In contrary, about certain memories stained in you for the quite of your life time, they also have door bell to bring you in front of its door to visit you in the room of memory. And what I usually talk about through my artworks is more about something in our life staying permanently or strongly in part of sequence of an experience. I would like to create my artworks as one of door bell to make good impact to whoever gets my artworks unlike example I mentioned for the starter of this question.
Could you share more about how your personal story and experiences shape the narrative in your paintings?
I’m so much ‘believe in love’ person, and regrading the one in the life, I was luckily having my one as my best friend since I was 17 years old. And as I mentioned before, I was dreamer about fashion design. I’m kind of person who imports life-meaning in my own life and how I’ve gotten my story, in which it’s also reflected in my artworks. Even though I can say to reach out the state to describe the life through artwork, I’m so grateful to having so much categorized term in the life such as lover, dreamer, and someone’s family and friends. This is how I can categorize my artwork in ‘lob star’,’4saisons’,’MAMP’ and ‘belle journée’.
In what ways do you think your artwork helps communicate and connect with others who are also navigating their own life stories and emotions?
My artworks get categorized in abstract art work but emotion itself is abstract and that's what contemporary art is, visualize emotions. That's the reason I tried to put description on each of artworks. As much as emotions are mutual among people who pursuing common things in the life so shared similar experiences let us having words to communicate through the art.
How do you balance between depicting the mundane, everyday objects and infusing them with deeper, emotional significance in your work?
I can proudly say that I am quite good at controlling and organizing my emotions, but what you're asking regarding my own emotion flows happens to me. In case I let myself to spend measure of time in nature or to use music or some drink or sports/ exercise to let my feeling away because some of temporary lasting feeling is obviously part of emotions.
Can you discuss a specific piece of your artwork that you feel most accurately represents your philosophy of finding art in daily life and the impact of emotions on our perception?
<<palais royale>> '20 has all colors of entire day on trees at the park ' palais royal in Paris. /+/ <<Amsterdam pain>>'23 and <<false alarm>>'20
Lastly, how do you hope your viewers will interact with or respond to your art, especially in terms of reflecting on their own life experiences and emotions?
As I said before, the art has the power to earn the emotional agreement from the others, and this power works to embrace their hurts and sorrow or more delightful works to ring their happy bell from their good memories in own story.
