Introduction by Taiyoung Ha Curator of Korea Culture House Austria

The exhibition was held from the 30th of August upto the 30th of September 2013 ( the Opening: 29th Aug. 6:30 pm).  The curator of the House, Taiyoung Ha wrote for the exhibition leaflet an succinct text that helps viewers to appreciate my paintings. 

 About the artist
In order to understand a new creation by an artist, we not only look at the visual images, but also consider materials, title, style, even sexuality of the artist, and moreover personal biography. I used to investigate such facts and thought that I have appreciated the artwork. However, Sung Min Kim’s paintings presented a different way of looking at artworks to me. My naming play was stopped by her works that overcome usual artistic categories such as Asian or Western style, Abstract, Realistic, Feminism, Marxism, etc. Her work made me to realize that there are other ways of viewing: namely “Just looking at” - which is more complicated to understand, but easy to do. Sung Min Kim puts long hours and enormous efforts into a work. Paper structure and use of pigments of her paintings demonstrate how well she understands the medium. Also the formation of images in her paintings proves her mastery of painting techniques in both traditions of Western and Asian. On the basis of such an artistic competency, her ‘build-up and destroy’ technique makes a way for new images to come up, which is similar to inkblots (psychological test images), making viewers to decide what they see. Korea Culture House Austria is truly lucky to have found such an outstanding Korean artist in Vienna. And we are happy to share her works with the public.

Tai Young Ha, Curator of the Korea Culture House Austria 

Artist's Note

What do we look at? In our routine, I am ‘I’; you are ‘you’; the tree that stands by the side of the road is ‘a tree’; and the Danube that reaches Vienna having made a long way is just ‘water’. In our daily life, individual objects are not easily seen associated with one another. However, sometimes one may have an extraordinary experience in that one melts and disappears in front of the existence that one loves. At this moment when one is freed from the limit of the individual ‘I’, there seems to be something that binds individual beings with love: Her touch.
Should we name her the Goddess of love? Or, had we better call her the Mother of Life? However, she avoids any definite names. Her hands hold me and other individual beings together, embrace them and place them under a shelter. Her touch leads us to the realm of eternity and to the depth of our spirit. Is it not Her touch that sparks me the will to live and will to create, in fact? Especially for the last a few years, I see myself who longs to see Her invisible hand and dreams to retrieve the Spring of Life none other than Her. Because Her touch entails the longing, I cannot but keep on searching it.

Strebersdorf, Vienna, June 2013