CRASHING

From June 15th through July 30th, 2016,  Waterfall Mansion and Gallery will present their first major solo exhibition of the acclaimed and renowned international artist, Kim Joon. Focusing on the tension and balance between our current identity, and who we wish to be, Kim uses tattoo-like images and artificial skin textures on computer generated bodies and creates a crashof identities.

Using tattoo as a form of expression, Kim reveals deeply imprinted desires and obsessions on his mind. In his early works, to demonstrate repression towards individuals under the social convention, he started making a discourse on the relationship of body and tattoo, which was a cultural taboo and still legally restricted in Korea. Literally reproducing tattoos on fake flesh, in the 00s, Kim used motifs such as clouds, dragons, and traditional symbols, as well as luxurious brand labels mapped on human body, causing a friction of shape, texture, and pattern. In terms of methodology Kim  chose 3D animation techniques for his digital prints and moving images to explore the intervals and mixes the host and object of desire. In the series of “Blue Jean Blues” and “Drunken”, the body became more fragile by being made of ceramic. Recently, as seen in “Somebody” and “Forest”, the bodies are fragmented and distorted. This  hybrid form creates  uncanny and uncomfortable balancing acts by crashing the real vs. fake, old vs new, who we want to be vs. who we are, self-definition vs. cultural expectations.

Furthermore, Kim invites the viewer into the crashing of his own identities, and reflect upon their own tensions and conflicting forces of identity formation and where true value in life is placed.

Kim Joon Crashing is curated by Doo Eun Choi, Kate Shin, and the Waterfall Mansion and Gallery team.