Seeing
the world with a waking heart, I met artist Kim Hee-ja, a painter with a beautiful soul.
Living Void, Triangle, Slavoye ลฝiลพek, Black House, Memory Treasury of Obsession, Friedrich Nietzsche,
Kaleidoscope, Yogฤcฤra, Zen Buddhism, Surrealism, René Magritte, Children's "Aha" Experience, Identity,
Wonhyo, Mangong, Sondam Monk, Fairy Tale Book, Eric Fromm, Bill Viola, Ryu Si-hwa, Kahlil Jiburan,
No Time No Place, Paul Tillich, Postmodernism...
As I read through the writer's notes of painter Kim Hee-ja, black letters appear before my eyes, like the signal of Morse code echoing through
certain rules. And the words, both knowing
and not knowing, seem almost like a mystery, drawing me deeper into Kim Hee-ja's world of consciousness, just like Alice in Wonderland
who chased a white rabbit and jumped into the rabbit hole.
The N pole of a magnet attracts only the S pole that is completely different from oneself. However, the attraction
between people is a bit different. According to one survey, more than one-third of couples find themselves more attracted to someone they find in common and naturally form empathy. When their personalities, ways of thinking, goals, or interests are similar, their mutual attraction increases and relationships develop more quickly. Of course, saying that I and Kim Hee-ja resemble each other based
on just a few words that caught my eye might be a bit too hasty.
But as I read her writer's notes, my heart was already fluttering with curiosity about her, and a few days later, I was able to meet her.
Despite being a stranger to her honest and bold personality, she did not allow any awkwardness
. As if they had known each other for some time, this was how a comfortable and pleasant first meeting with
writer Kim Hee-ja began.
All works must not be disqualified as works of art.
Kim Hee-ja was about a week away from her solo exhibition. It was an invitational exhibition at the Nabi Museum of the Arts gallery in
T-Nec, New Jersey. Having spent her life painting
, she seemed to have her own firm artistic philosophy about art.
"Every work must have no disqualification as an artwork." After finishing her greetings and sitting down
, Kim Hee-ja naturally began to talk about her artistic philosophy.
She says that every artwork must possess
an alluring charm that draws the viewer's attention, and through that attraction, the artwork should be able to pose certain questions to
those who appreciate it. Artist Kim Hee-ja also uses her works to ask, 'What is this?'
He said he wanted to gift people the question of 'What could this be?'
Even when seeing the same thing, people perceive things differently. Even a single blade of grass can be seen as medicine to a doctor's
eyes, and as a cooking ingredient to a chef.
Thus, while people appreciate a single work of art, they paint their own pictures based on their own environment and experiences, and in this way,
an artist's work is reborn in countless versions. She said that her work is only completed through the process of people
harboring doubts and searching for answers.
Texture is the mark of a work or a trace of life, and a three-dimensional form of cosmic energy.
In Korean, there is a beautiful word called "grain." Grain—mind's grain, hair grain, waves, wind's grain, breath,
tree's grain—everything has its own grain. When you move along that "grain," it's
like a sailboat gliding over water on a tailwind—everything flows smoothly, but if you go against that grain
, you feel resistance both big and small. As a child, I plucked a strand of hair and tucked it between my thumb and index finger, moving it in one direction and the other.
I remember playing together. Although the hair was thin and fine, I could clearly feel the texture.
Kim Hee-ja's canvases are made up of panels and mirrors that reveal the natural grain of the wood.
People can see the falling leaves, but she says they cannot feel the cosmic force that causes them to fall
. She says she saw the energy
of the universe through the grain of the wood. Is that why? Artist Kim Hee-ja says she selects dozens of wooden panels again and again to find "that" wood grain, which
resonates with her 'mind' and 'texture.' Her work begins with the process of selecting the wood panels,
the material of her work.
As she said, perhaps principles of natural science such as universal gravitation and relativity are merely forms of the 'cosmic grain.' Similarly, the grain of wood, which is a trace of the life
it has lived, is also a form of cosmic grain that drives the universe. Then, are our mind,
breath, wind, and waves also part of the cosmic grain? Come to think of it, I realized that nothing around us
is not the universe.
Her wood grains in Kim Hee-ja's works have become the waves of the sea, the air filling the space
, and at times clouds in the sky—and sometimes the wind.
I thought, 'The world has always been filled with something,' and the spaces I
thought were empty came to my eyes again.
Kim Hee-ja, who says that due to numbness caused by habits, people these days are blind even when they look, and even though they live
within it, they cannot feel it. She said that through her work, she hopes
people will see the world with a waking heart.
Mirrors are the mind.
Alongside the wooden panels, the material used in Kim Hee-ja's works is the mirror.
She became deeply immersed in Buddhist Yogฤcฤra to understand the reality of the mind, and began studying Eastern philosophy, Western psychology,
and Korean Zen Buddhism. She says she started expressing her artistic insight into the mind
through the material of the mirror. Inspired by a
kaleidoscope, the installation art piece Indra's net
Jemangchahae, a massive glass sculpture measuring 369 inches wide and 144 inches high, was a piece that vividly expressed her reflection and realization about the mind. Language is
said to always change its meaning according to the karma of time and space, and she is known for
her linguistic analogy.He said that indirect methods can never break the huandu. Like performance art
, when you exist in that moment, you can only gain true insight into the hwadu.
Her installation art piece, Indra's net Jemangchalhae,
designed so that visitors could directly step into and appreciate the work, was a piece that conveyed Kim Hee-ja's inner reflection and the artist's
message.
When this work was first exhibited at the Cast Iron gallery in Soho, New York
art critic Donald Cspit was reportedly completely captivated by her work.
Western art centered on science and reason. Her installation art showcased the deep
spiritual world of Eastern Zen Buddhism in the New York art scene, the mecca of Western art, and was said to be a groundbreaking event that marked a milestone in the New York art
scene at the time. This invitational exhibition also featured many works using mirrors.
When visitors approach
her artwork to appreciate it, they first encounter their own reflection within it. Although it is a familiar face they see every day,
encountering themselves in unexpected situations can sometimes leave them momentarily bewildered or unfamiliar
. However, it was fascinating to see the visitors lingering for a long time, unable to leave
the front of the artwork, as if enjoying that fleeting and mysterious experience again. Just as Kim Hee-ja intended,
perhaps through her work, they might ask, "What is this?" "What is this?"
I might be asking myself.
People who have lived their lives seriously and fiercely are beautiful.
It is said that flowers began to bloom on Earth, where life first began to exist. However, the flowers that arrived on Earth too early
could not stay long, and so many flowers bloomed silently and then disappeared without a sound. Just like the delicate
flowers that arrived on Earth too early, those born ahead of their time must have felt lonely. Saimdang and
Nanseolheon, who had outstanding talent in writing and painting
but had to live in an era when they could not fully demonstrate their abilities, must have had inner anguish that only they had to bear. Their human
Some say that anguish actually became the driving force behind artistic inspiration, but it's never easy