Walking into the Kate Oh Gallery in New York City, the immediate response leaves one breathless when viewing Eun C. Kim’s art. Color, texture and light hit the viewer with remarkable radiance. A visceral effect as if fireflies fill inside one’s chest.
There have been various, philosophical and academic descriptions and analyses of Kim’s work, however this writer is focusing on the gut reaction to her art. The theme and title of her show is called “A Delicate Theory of Human Chaos.” This exhibition is an investigation of contrast, order and disorder, loss, allegory and contemporary culture.
Kim’s paintings harken of Eden and have a religious undertone. In the piece titled Tears, there is a cascade of flesh colored tears hovering over swirling clouds. Beneath the clouds are maroon roots the size of tree trunks. The piece is divided into three portions. Entwined at the bottom where the roots are is a human figure. This figure looks like it’s climbing up into the clouds and seeking solace beyond the pull of what lies beneath in the earthly world. The human figures in Kim’s work are small, and delineated, like copper colored nerve endings tangled in tight circles. All suggesting that humans are the purveyors of chaos in the natural world, while the natural world follows its own path.
In the piece called The Mermaid are trees lined up that glisten in dense blacks against a blistering and illuminated red sky surrounding the sea. There’s a boat with six figures in it close to the shore and in the forefront of the art is a mermaid swimming. One wonders if the mermaid is swimming away from the boat as the water and sky are ablaze with intense blues, oranges and gold. This too, looks like paradise with its detailed brush strokes and reflections from the trees in the water. The beauty of nature and humanity is beguiling. One feels passion and the energy and forcefulness of the artist’s emotions. One feels both calm and a desire to be inside the painting, The mermaid being half animal and half human has found harmony in the natural world where Homo sapiens have not.
In Why Do Nations Rage?, a pile of human bodies in their entwined shapes are formed into a crucifix on a hill. They are surrounded by warriors with weapons and shields against a brilliant blue forest of exotic trees. Some bodies are held up by the spears of the warriors. The artist presents the enigma of why we go to war, that great unanswerable question that hasn’t been resolved over the millennia. This image is so heart wrenching and unflinching, that one can’t look away.
Kim continues to present us contradiction; beauty in her painting technique and with blue starry skies and breathtaking portrayals that make one become immersed in both the darkness and light, order and chaos. Kim has tapped into something so deep. This stunning vision shows the magnificence of life and nature while displaying loss as if we humans created our own limbo on earth. Are we at a tipping point? Will we resolve our own chaos?
In Wildflowers, one sees total contrast. A man wearing a gray suit, head hidden. He is anonymous as he stands at the edge of the canvas against what appears to be pink wildflowers filling the remainder of the painting. When looking closely, human shapes are enmeshed within the wildflowers. This visual metaphor shows us that we are wildflowers, connected to nature, wild and beautiful. The puzzle here is the man by the side, whose face is unseen. His figure is imposing. Does he represent the unthinking human ravaging the earth? More questions to ponder. G&S
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