S.H. Kim: In the blink of an eye

The Yusto / Giner Gallery presents the first individual exhibition of Jake Clark in its space in Madrid.

With Japanese and American animations from the 1970s to 2000, Kim combines the nostalgia of that time with contemporary paintings. These works narrate his memories of everyday encounters, such as with landscapes, films or books. With ordinary scenes and popular images as his source, the artist builds a subjective archive.

Among the central themes he pursues in his work, Kim reflects that simplicity, sincerity and authenticity that evokes artists such as Milton Avery or Philip Guston. Known for his bold and thick application of oils and oil pastels in his anime-inspired panels, he succeeds in conveying intimate feelings to the viewer when viewing his paintings.

Most of us affectively remember moments from movies, television and literature. Often we remember these scenes or moments without total fidelity to our referents. Kim takes advantage of his skills with oil and oil pastel to create these impressionistic scenes with bold colors, similar to the Fauvist movement, where a direct and vigorous brushstroke was used, with thick touches, without blending and avoiding shading the colors, to capture the emotional qualities that the artist remembers. The bold color palette also helps to connect with the vivid colors of television shows, movies and cartoon video games, in this case alluding to the Japanese style of anime.

Kim fuses historical references with contemporary cultural productions. That is, we rarely relate impressionism to the representations we find in mass media. But that is what Kim achieves in his paintings. Moreover, impressionistic techniques allow Kim to visualize the affective nature of memory, however nebulous or incomplete it may be at times.

S.H. Kim: IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE

Organized por Will Leung

Opening: Saturday 3rd June, from 12p.m. to 2:30p.m.
Galería Yusto Giner, C/ del Barquillo 25, 28004, Madrid.

Source: Yusto / Giner Gallery