Kim Kun-ju work is like that of an author, creating a book where narratives organically integrate. Corresponding exhibitions by Kim offer work in an on-going process, and not in completion, as chapters awaiting binding. Each work functions symbolically like a hieroglyph, and becomes part of the whole in which other works and exhibits form their own context. And although Kim adopts certain narrative structures, he rejects any definition of his work by refusing common narrative structures. Kim’s narrative structures are active - hot and cold –and far from conventionally neutral. In Kim’s work, objects also appear as pared-down images, without their complicated character.
We expect an artist’s intent appears in the form of their work. But as Kim uses multiple media, and a pluralistic use of medium, such a discovery remains aloof. Kim’s pursuit of diverse form is natural but albeit far from his ultimate purpose, as he knows new form in conceptually geared contemporary art has little effect. In other words, as newness connotes banality in contemporary art, new form has no effect any longer. Kim is surely aware of this aspect. His work’s unpredictable quality causes our embarrassment. In this sense, we may approach his work by reviewing its inner side composedly.
Kim’s work condenses everyday and uncommon representations and symbolizes them between two and three dimensionality symbols that form a sentence, a phrase, a chapter. This way Kim combines subjective representations from his daily life, like his daughter’s teddy bear, with mythical symbols, like the Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, musical instruments, and animals, in a heterogeneous manner. In Unfamiliar Drift he presented three-dimensional work which excluded symbolic monumentality and massiveness. It was planar, overlapping, hung on a wall, or placed on the floor. In so doing, Kim typified his unique style, found also in Collections and Myths, by challenging conventional narrative structures, and the meaning of everyday things, by allowing objects to speak alone, in their own context.
What we note here is the intersection of things in completely different contexts does not provide any general, common narrative based on concrete relations between a specific social structure and people. Each text in Kim’s work is just placed, overlapping, and has no particular correlation, conveying no specific meaning. The artist above all seems to present a situation and attitude, rather than a narrative and form that suggests a concrete sympathy with us. The artist shows his will to be away from forming a typical relation, while staying in an inward world.
Reminiscent of Samuel Beckettian’s absurd drama, Kim’s work presents a recurring situation itself, instead of any typical form and direction through the overlap of one with another. He rids of complex meaning, or namely, presents only the signifier without the signified, undermining the universal way of thinking. This strategy aims at the thought of a structure itself, rather than thought within a structure.
Two-dimensional relief works and rather sculptural pieces such as torso and bag on display at the show entice viewers with their unique modeling quality. These works, however, ingeniously discourage their desires to consume only a sweet form. We have to be consistent to approach his work, which is the first appeal of his work. If we pursue this line, we are able to travel through the woods of his thoughts that are obscure but enable us to enjoy freedom. This is the second appeal of Kim’s work. The question Kim and we share is what we secure through this journey. It is a delightful task we have to pursue in collaboration with each other. Even if we give up this pursuit in the middle, we may have leisurely pleasure while chatting about his art at a teahouse.
By Yoon Doo-hyun / Independent Curator
