Exhibition Information

2019 91 x 122 cm

2020 15 x 21 cm

2018 러닝타임 20:01

			Konglish is a small survey of Yeon Jin Kim’s multidisciplinary practice, highlighting her textiles, cut-paper book works and animated drawings, as well as her narrative films.  

Born and educated in Seoul, she moved fifteen years ago to New York City where she continues to work and to teach at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Westchester Community College. Kim`s years away from Korea provided an outside vantage point allowing her a greater understanding and appreciation of the Korean aesthetics and traditions that she was immersed in as a child. Although she was presented in school with Western aesthetics as a priority, she was always drawn to the beauty of Korean ceramics and textiles.  



As a child Kim was introduced to Jogakbo by her aunt who owned a Hanbok shop. 

Her aunt was particularly talented in traditional Korean arts and her visually sophisticated Jogakbo were sometimes gifted to family members. It was one of these uniquely beautiful pieces, given to Kim by her mother, that inspired her to update this traditional Korean art form by stitching together pieces of commercial plastic bags found on the streets of New York City and Seoul. As in traditional Jogakbo, the scrap elements have all been previously used and are sewn together to create improvisatory compositions.



Another body of work influenced by Kim`s expatriate perspective is a series of book works. For example, she has cut intricate lace patterns into the pages of “Home Economics for Girls” and “War Preparation for Girls”, text books from her school years in Seoul designed to prepare girls to take care of the boys who would be injured in the inevitable war with communist North Korea.The lace patterns interrupt the indoctrinating narrative that stoked fear of communism as an instrument of control. The patterns also reflect the fact that girls were themselves being trained to be part of a pattern - of people - yielding group-think and conformity. In another piece Kim inserted an mp3 player inside a textbook with an audio component describing a personal experience she had at age nine which introduced her to fear of the dictatorship. She has also made pieces by slowly, meditationally burning holes through the text books, using the sun and a magnifying glass: close and persistent investigation burning holes through governmental indoctrination. 



 Kim`s narrative videos are shot from scroll drawings and elaborate miniature models and characters made from cardboard, paper, and other materials. This deliberately low-tech process is often combined with various animation techniques. 

 Recent video pieces include a story that takes place on a city-sized spaceship, a jungle where once extinct species return and join new hybrids, a monster/comedy and a ghost story. For example, “Ghost in the Yellow House” is based on her cousin’s experience moving to upstate New York from Korea to live with her  husband and newborn child. As she experiences alienation, language issues and social isolation, her American dream disintegrates and she experiences a hostile ghost in the form of a white woman. 



Also Included in the exhibition are drawings, animated drawings and brief animated videos that explore Kim`s fascination with the natural world and its processes. Having grown up in the urban environment of Seoul, Kim was awakened to a range of unfamiliar natural phenomena through her extensive travels in the U.S. Her drawing series “Phenomenon” and her animated drawings “Inklings” are responses to Kim`s feelings of uncertainty and fear of the power of nature and its uncontrollable proliferation.