Soo Kim: Cantabile Solo Exhibition Sept 15th-27th, 2012

Performance by artists Tatyana Tenenbaum, and Rebeca Medina Fri, Sept 21st at 4:00pm

Tompkins Square NY Public Library 331 East 10th Street (near Avenue B) New York, NY 10009-5099, Tel: 212-228-4747

Contact info: E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 646. 251. 7997 www.sookimart.com

Cantabile

People say to the dreamer to snap out of the land of dreams. The dreamer replies, “This is reality”.

Everything started with the questioning of “As if..”, which is also the title of Soo Kim’s recent work, which includes a Piñata installation. She created a small, intimate birthday party scene, with the use of spotlights. The Piñata looks more desolate than celebrated.

Next, she takes her old paintings and transforms scenes from the paintings into real life. She compares the original idea, the paintings and the artificial setting, and asks “‘what happens when your imagination or a dream comes true in real life? how would you describe the feeling?” The idea of the real and the imitated continues from her previous work of “Disguise (2011) series”, in which there is a salesman buying a moustache to disguise himself in order to see if living as a different person would make him happier.

“Cantabile” is a style of singing, which is characterized by the easy and flowing tone of the composition, playing softly as if one were singing. This time, Soo Kim is softly orchestrating her works of site-specific installation, arranged objects, paintings, drawings, and a video. There is a rhythm among the placements. Given the fact that the exhibition space is a public library, she keeps faded color palettes, using colors such as faded orange, light blue or pink, and transforms the space into a timeless and banal setting.

She is collaborating with a NY based performing artist Tatiana Tenenbaum for a performance piece, which explores the unspoken message between the original and the artificial, using body movements and sounds.

Soo Kim is a Visual Artist originally from Seoul, Korea, and currently working and living in New York. “Cantabile” is her second solo exhibition. She has been exploring various ideas of interaction using multi-mediums. She has taken part in exhibitions in Singapore, Berlin, Tokyo, and New York City. Her work has been published in many international publications.

-As if.. by Soo Kim

I painted a picture. It is a piano with a small blanket gently placed on it. It was an image that had been lingering in my head for a while. I started wondering ‘where this image come from?’ I decided to actually create the scene from my painting into real life. I compare the original painting, and the artificial setting. And then..

When you called its name, a new meaning was layered in a second. I pretend, as if I didn’t know what the original meaning was. I unlearn, then I learn again.

Celebrate, as if it was your birthday. Even if only for a day, You have every right to wish. As the candies fall down from the Piñata, your wish might come true.

Contact info: E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 646. 251. 7997

Cantabile: A style of singing which is characterized by the easy and flowing tone of the composition.