Installation view of 《ON NATURE》 © Moran Museum of Art

To commemorate its reopening, Moran Museum of Art presents 《ON NATURE》, a solo exhibition by Atta Kim, as its first exhibition of the year.

Presenting Atta Kim’s artistic world at Moran Museum of Art is significant in many respects. Above all, the museum’s natural, cultural, and artistic environment appears to embody a sculptural space that resonates deeply with 《ON NATURE》.

Atta Kim is an artist who achieved international recognition at an early stage. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that he became the first Korean artist to publish a photography book with Aperture in 2004, and the first Asian artist to hold a solo exhibition at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York in 2006.

His widely known ‘Museum Project’ series and ‘ON-AIR Project’ series are regarded as major bodies of work that trace a significant aesthetic trajectory within the history of contemporary art in the early 21st century.


Installation view of Atta Kim’s Work © Atta Kim

This exhibition at Moran Museum of Art primarily presents works from the ‘ON NATURE’ series, which the artist has continuously developed since around 2010. Atta Kim initiated ‘ON NATURE’ as a practice of installing canvases in various locations around the world and contemplating art together with nature.

‘ON NATURE’ reveals an artistic process that begins in nature, encounters nature, and ultimately returns to nature. While it may be described as “paintings drawn by nature” or “nature’s drawings,” it would be a misunderstanding to regard Atta Kim as an artist who merely aestheticizes nature or reduces art to nature.

This is because ‘ON NATURE’ possesses an ontological orientation that cannot be confined to specific genres or categories such as environmental art, nature art, or ecological art. Atta Kim is an artist who contemplates nature and art, and who opens a horizon of resonance by practicing ‘ON NATURE’ as an ontological act.

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