Actress and painter Kim HyunJung’s ‘Prayer’ features a stuffed rabbit named Lala, which represents the artist’s inner soul.
Actress and painter Kim HyunJung is returning to the scene with a new solo exhibition for the first time in two years, the second of her solo exhibits. “Kim HyunJung Solo Exhibition: Gift” will kick off on Sept. 28 at Gallery 1898 in Myeongdong, central Seoul.
The upcoming exhibit features 19 paintings and one sculpture. Four pieces — “Rainbow in Kolkata,” “Lala with Rainbow,” “Rainbow Journey” and “Rainbow Dreams” — stand out among the other paintings, as they were created using a new method of the artist’s own called double-layer drawing (쌍층雙層 화법). It’s a drawing technique that the artist invented where she paints on a sheet of traditional mulberry Hanji (한지) paper first, and then she pastes silk on top of the paper, upon which she gives the finishing touches.
These four paintings were inspired by a lecture given by the Rev. Cha Dong-yeop who believes that “the rainbow brings blessings.” Kim turned the priest’s messages into art.
One of the paintings by actress-turned-painter Kim HyunJung depicts Mother Teresa.
“Prayer” and “St. Mother Teresa” are the embodiment of spiritual experiences that the artist has gone through as a Roman Catholic, she said. Also, a series of paintings showing a rabbit plush toy and a rainbow reflect her belief and hope that living spaces for all people, children in particular, which are currently filled with electronic goods, will soon be filled with the energy of happiness, she said. The rabbit doll is named Lala, which the artist says represents her inner soul.
‘Rainbow in Kolkata’ by Kim HyunJung is on display at her upcoming solo exhibition in Seoul.
Kim HyunJung’s painting ‘Lala with Rainbow’ is on display at her upcoming exhibition.
Kim HyunJung’s ‘Rainbow Journey’ portrays a rabbit doll named Lala, which represents the artist’s inner soul, she says, taking a balloon ride over the ocean.
Kim HyunJung’s ‘Rainbow Dreams’ portrays a little child sleeping with Lala the rabbit in her arms.
When asked why she chose Myeongdong as a venue, Kim said, “It’s because there are many Chinese and Japanese visitors with whom I desire to share my art.”
She spent the scorching summer this year focusing solely on her new paintings, stuck in her studio all day. That hard work left the artist with a kink in her neck. “The thought of having to let go of these works, works into which I shed so much sweat, leaves me with a feeling of emptiness,” Kim said.
The artist has created an art world of her own, based on what she has learned from art history of both the East and the West. One of the creatures that came to life in her world is Lala, a stuffed rabbit doll, which often shows up in many of her artworks. She calls the rabbit her “inner child.” She paints the psychological and emotional comfort that she gained from the imaginary creature onto the canvas.
Lala is not just a prop or a doll to be part of the background. This bunny is, as the artist said, her own inner child that she encountered and discovered in the process of getting psychological counseling. The artist attempts to bring her inner soul onto her canvas using her own double-layer drawing technique, a technique considered to be a whole different way of expression from her previous works.
Lala is a special gift for the artist, she says. Through this stuffed animal, she is willing to find her inner child and to rethink the trivial things in our life that might otherwise be taken for granted, to think of them as something of value. Her paintings attempt to catch such delicate and positive feelings that can be found among today’s youth, and particularly female youth, who heal themselves and grow up with their inner child on the inside.
In 1999, Kim debuted as a model and an actress, starring in numerous soap operas, movies and plays until 2009. During her decade or so acting, she took the time to study art history, art theory and even techniques on how to appraise the value of an artwork. She decided to take a hiatus from her acting career and took a course in psychological counseling for more than a year as part of a program designed to foster Roman Catholic counselors. In the process, she learned how people can heal themselves by finding comfort in a doll. That was when she discovered her inner child, Lala.
Between 2012 and 2013, she contributed a series of paintings and essays in a segment of the Segye Ilbo newspaper. In January 2014, she published “Lala: Inner Child Who Searches My Soul,” a collection of paintings and short stories.
Artist Kim HyunJung says that the moment she discovered that she had an inner child, Lala, was a turning point in her life.
In February 2014, Kim collaborated with visual artist Lee Wol Chong and painter Kim Kyung-ryul on a special exhibition to mark the 25th anniversary of the first publication of the Segye Ilbo newspaper. In June that year, she held a solo exhibition at the invitation of Gallery Art Link in Seoul. In November, she was invited to showcase a select set of her artworks in Beijing at the “One Divided Into Three: The Exhibition of Three Korean Artists” exhibition. The Beijing show shed new light on well-known works by the late Paik Nam June and Lee Wol Chong, as well.
In March this year, she travelled to Beijing again to be part of the 2016 Korea-China Calligraphy Art ExchangeSeodomumun (서도무문, 書道無門). The exhibition moved to Paju, Gyeonggi-do Province, in August, in which she also participated.
Her creations are currently housed at Daejeon Catholic University, the War & Women’s Human Rights Museum, the headquarters of the Segye Ilbo newspaper, at the LS Industrial System building and at the KC Green Holdings building.
Kim’s upcoming Seoul exhibition will run until Oct. 4. At the opening ceremony, set to take place at Gallery 1898 in Myeongdong at 6 p.m. on Sept. 28, Cho Eun-su, a virtuoso on the traditional two-stringed fiddle-like haegeum (해금) instrument, will entertain visitors with a solo concert. Kim will also hold a special event to introduce her recently published book. The book and concert will start at the Myeongdong Book Park at 2 p.m. on Oct. 1.
By Wi Tack-whan, Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writers
whan23@korea.kr
