※ A comprehensive monograph of Kim Beom’s work will be published along with the exhibition.

Kim Beom presents works that escape from socially educated ideas as well as works that reveal the fictional aspect within an image. Through a wide range of mediums such as drawings, installation, video, books and objects, Kim leads visitors to contemplate the world through a different perspective, departing from fixed ideas. By suggesting “what you see” may “not be what you see,” Kim reveals the tension and conflict between internal psychology and external reality.

Kim’s solo exhibition, “Kim Beom” presented at Art Sonje Center, introduces 15 pieces of his recent productions and un-exhibited works. Kim continues to deal with issues of perception that relate to ‘observing,’ and flips ways of visual perception that are regulated by social education. Through this process Kim presents an opportunity to observe our surroundings and situations through a new dimension.

The Educated Objects (2010) series displayed at the third floor are installations that deal with how education influences the identity, value, idea and perception of an individual. The series includes A Rock That Learned the Poetry of JUNG Jiyong, A Rock That Was Taught It Was a Bird, Objects Being Taught They are Nothing but Tools and A Ship That Was Taught There is No Sea, which contrast functional features and animated characters that reveal one-sided control and standardization of the educator upon an educatee.
Spectacle (2010), installed at the second floor, recomposes a TV show that shows the food chain of wildlife animals. Switching the ordinary food chain by showing an antelope chasing a cheetah, this video reflects Kim’s doubt upon the justified status of relative aspects such as the inside and outside, as well as the high and low. Horse Riding Horse (After Eadweard Muybridge) (2008) appropriates Muybridge’s Horse in Motion (1878). Inanimated Objects (2007) shows daily objects decomposing like animal carcass. Also, 10 Animated Drawings (2007) present drawings that illustrate symbolic situations into an animation film. Along with 10 Animated Drawings Kim’s early drawings created in the 1990s will be exhibited. A Draft of a School of Inversion (2009) and A Draft of a Safe House for a Tyrant (2009) is Kim’s recent production of the Blueprint and Perspectives series, which utilize blueprints to depict architectures that contain internal situations that are contradictory to its appearance; architectural structures are converted and stories of people within a social group are told through combining the imaginary and the real. Intimate Suffering (2008) which extends Kim’s early black and white perceptual paintings shows a painterly style maze with an obscure exit. This work focuses on the relationship between the viewer who faces a ‘problem’ and the chaotic situation of the canvas, departing from human’s instinct to solve ‘problems.’ The exhibition also includes Untitled (Plants from the Places) (2007-Present), Kim’s ongoing project of growing plants made out of newspaper images of plants and earth.

Kim’s third artist book “Noonchi (2009)”, following his previous books “The Art of Transforming (1996)” and “Hometown (1998)”, tells a story about an imaginary dog which desires to be brought to life by forming a relationship with the reader in reality. Flower (1999) is presented at the first floor lounge of Art Sonje Center; a video installation which depicts the Mandala through daily objects and our surroundings. A comprehensive monograph which includes an interview with the artist will be published along with the exhibition, which will provide deeper insights upon Kim’s work.