Installation view of 《Docking Waltz》 (ThisWeekendRoom, 2024) ©ThisWeekendRoom

The waltz is a dance music with variations characterized by a three-quarters time. Much like the music’s cheerfulness and vibrancy, Kim’s oil paintings are filled with intense bursts of color and bold brushstrokes. His new series, Scalar and Vector, featured in 《Docking Waltz》, is a sequential exploration of the dynamics of color and force, elements Kim considers when composing his canvases. The terms “Scalar” (referring to an object’s physical quantity) and “Vector” (referring to its direction) intuitively suggest his focus on the mass and movement of color. The exhibition delves into Kim’s materialistic approach to painting and highlights the connection between his artistic intent and the audience’s physical and mental experience.

Throughout art history, color has been manipulated by artists in countless ways as a result of light’s optical action. In painting, the perception of color has shifted across different times and environments, with some artists finding their fundamental motivation in a particular hue. But what does color mean to Kim? In his work, Kim deliberately avoids clichéd symbolism and the conventional use of color. Instead, he focuses on the physical properties of oil paint, one of the primary mediums for expressing color.

Some pigments are so transparent by nature that they must be applied in layers to achieve vividness, while others possess a heavier texture due to their metallic components. Moreover, the surface of the canvas, where the paint meets and the surrounding colors, can alter the gloss and texture of the paint. For Kim, color is not merely a signifier of meaning but an industrial pigment, a variable whose appearance changes depending on its conditions. This empirical approach allows him to determine the placement and orientation of each color on the canvas, directly influencing his compositional decisions.

Installation view of 《Docking Waltz》 (ThisWeekendRoom, 2024) ©ThisWeekendRoom

Once each material has been analyzed, a solitary dialogue between the blank canvas and the artist begins. Surprisingly, this process involves no pre-planning or external references. Kim is solely focused on maximizing his sculptural intuition, guided by his deep understanding of the materials. After applying a primary color over the grid lines drawn on the base, he instinctively knows how the next color will enter.

In an intense process of scribbling, throwing, and pushing pigment, each hue docks sequentially within the canvas. Wide planes, long straight or scattered short lines, and supporting circles emerge, gradually forming the skeleton of the painting. When the artist stops, each finished piece presents itself to us as an image brimming with its own state of force.

The artist sequentially numbers the scenes that ended with drastic strokes, and then moves forward. He simply continues his journey to find a breakthrough to a question that has not been fully answered in the previous work. What’s intriguing is how the artist’s densely layered concerns ignite a sense of pleasure in the viewer that extends far beyond rational judgment. The viewer’s eye is drawn to the overwhelming textures of color, powerful brushstrokes, and geometric cues that either balance or disrupt the scene.

Within these layers, we encounter variations of energy, expanding forward and contracting backwards. His paintings resemble exquisitely constructed buildings, despite lacking formal plans. Numerous molecules of color, with different intensities and traces, come together as the necessary and sufficient elements of an abstract structure that embodies both tension and harmony.

Installation view of 《Docking Waltz》 (ThisWeekendRoom, 2024) ©ThisWeekendRoom

The deep understanding and dedication to materials he showed are revealed in the rhythmic chains of color. Art has always existed on a physical foundation, inseparable from it. Extending this further, our perceptions and emotions are also formed on a multi-dimensional matter that is interwoven with reality. The questions Kim raises seem to transcend art and touch upon life itself: How does one create a painting that strips away emotional rhetoric and peripheral narratives? How can the canvas, brush, and paint be allowed to reveal their inherent qualities?

And how can these elements evoke unexpected impressions and memories, prompting us to reflect on the meaning of life? Ultimately, Kim envisions and dreams of a moment of emptiness—a vacuum—where the most fundamental and essential relationship between artwork and self, subject and object, comes into being.


TextㅣJihyung Park (Curator, ThisWeekendRoom)

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