FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION OF RENOWNED KOREAN CONTEMPORARY ARTIST KIM HYUNSIK IN TURKEY AT SEVIL DOLMACI ISTANBUL
Sevil Dolmacı Istanbul is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of renowned Korean contemporary artist Kim Hyunsik in Turkey. The exhibition, titled "Intended Blank", will take place from November 13 to December 13, 2024 and will present a selection of 60 works in various media and sizes, mainly produced by the artist for this year's exhibition, as well as a selection of works produced between 2020 and 2023.
Kim Hyunsik works in the space between sculpture and painting. On the one hand his works appear as minimalist paintings, on the other hand they are flat sculptures in terms of their weight and thickness. Hyunsik applies Bernard Waldenfels' concept of the "transformative power of repetition" by repeating the process of pouring epoxy-resin onto a rectangular panel, heating it to harden, scraping the surface to create fine lines, filling the lines with acrylic, and pouring another layer of epoxy-resin.
In the exhibition "Intended Blank", Kim Hyunsik opens a new door to the perception of painting by inscribing emptiness into the material (epoxy). Aiming to depict the 'in-between spaces' between the visible and the invisible, Hyunsik's works draw the viewer's eyes to the surface through the epoxy-resin, inviting them to look deeper and explore the layers of the invisible beyond the visible and the spaces between these layers. Emptiness, nothingness and absence are a central agenda of East Asian thought and the original concept of East Asian aesthetics. In Western thought, "to be" is to have, while nothingness is not to have. In East Asian thought, however, all concepts such as emptiness, absence and nothingness are not mere absence. On the contrary, it is the source of existence and the living space that enables beings to live. Throughout the history of East Asian painting, this philosophical understanding has been reflected in painting and the way it is visualized in paintings is called 'white space' or 'intended blank'. Just as empty spaces in cities allow new housing to be built, empty spaces in the human body allow blood to flow and breath to be inhaled and exhaled. This is how human beings live. Therefore, emptiness is the source of life. Similarly, white space or intentional emptiness is the life and essence of a painting. Hyunsik's paintings are the material manifestation of this view of art, and the silent emptiness he depicts is not just nothingness, but a symbol of infinity and God.
