Frieze Masters 2021: Online Viewing Room

 “From high school, KIM was fascinated by Korean traditional archery, and spent many hours watching the elderly archers practice shooting at Hwanghakjeong. After persistent observation from the top of a hill, she was finally given permission to learn the traditional skill. Archery required a combination of physical movement and mental judgement, and KIM was interested in it enough to continue her practice even after moving to France. The artist’s video works contain the image of the artist shooting arrows. The painting of a single stroke made with a large brush, accompanied by a video, reminds us of Shitao’s “I-Hua Theory”. Interested not only in the act of archery, but also in the colors composing the target board, KIM also presents drawings that analyze shooting records through color. Her long interest in Eastern thought also led her to use Eastern philosophy to analyze the significance of the five traditional colors composing the target. Following her long interest in traditional color stripes and mandalas, she linked these to TV color bars. The color stripes overlapped with the color bars on the TV screen, signifying the world containing the energy of all creation.”

- Soojung YI, Curator, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

Yi, S.J. (2019)  ‘About the “Work Meeting the Everyday Together with People, Following the Moments, Using What Is Not There” - One and All: Connecting the Poles’, in Soungui KIM: Lazy Clouds. p. 25. Exhibition catalogue.

KIM Soungui’s “One Stroke of Painting” series, which documents over a decade’s worth of experimentation with archery, evidences the continual change found in the landscape, space, time, and even the artist herself. However, there is one factor that remains constant: the act of shooting an arrow. The arrow is catapulted from bow to target. The sound of the arrow coursing through the wind and piercing through its final destination transcends the flow of time.

The “Peinture-Cible” paintings from this series were developed from the impracticality of replacing the target each time, which meant that the artist would shoot at the same —already punctured —target upon filling the holes. The worn target, pierced and mended by the artist, records the repetitive act of shooting an arrow, which allows for clarity and self-awareness; training not only the body but also the mind.

Text Reference: Dr. JOO, Henna, “On Soungui KIM’s Art”, Contemporary Art Forum, August 2020

“Before I start a project, I tend to make drawings of the preliminary idea or technical concept I have in mind; in other words, concept or technical drawings. This process helps to give my ideas a concrete form. Even after a work is born out of this idea, I continue to analyze it so that yet another idea grows out of it. The new idea can lead to the modification of the work or it becomes the substance for the next project”

- Soungui KIM

“Korean Artist Digital Archive Project, Soungui KIM”, Korea Arts Management Service, 2020

Soungui KIM’s “Saekdong Mandala” series draws on the fundamental philosophy of spiritual focus, found across various Eastern religions. The mandala (Sanskrit for “circle”) is an instrument of meditation that acts as a guide for introspection and self-awareness.

While inherent to Eastern culture, the concept of the mandala is now widely received in the West, as a result of Carl JUNG’s exploration into interpreting the mandala as a symbol of self-acceptance and self-understanding. JUNG’s work opened up the possibility for secular uses of the mandala. In the context of modernity, the mandala—regardless of its visual representation—leads to the individuation process, representing an attempt by the conscious self to integrate to unconscious material.

This symbolic representation of the universe, most commonly taking the form of a circle, or a series of circles, often enclosed in a rectangular frame is reflected in the imagery of KIM’s works through the combination of Saekdong and traditional Korean ink.

Text Reference: Jung, C. (1973). Mandala Symbolism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.