THE ART OF KYUNGSUN KAY LIM

Kyung Sun's commitment to and zeal for painting also extends to the consistency and intensity of her vision. Philip Guston spoke of painting as not being a "painting" but rather a "possessing." Kyung Sun's pursuit, persistence and the resulting force of her work bring this quote to mind.

Kyung Sun's images are always abstract, that is, there is clearly no figurative content in the work and yet the presence of nature is very strong. Some of her paintings are vertical, some horizontal, some assembled in a grid formation. Thus, it is not the typical landscape orientation which offers to the viewer nature's presence. Neither does her palette. Her color is austere in its restriction to black and white and white and the metallic colors, silver, copper and gold. These hues and the matte and gloss of their surfaces augment the subtley and intensity of her statement. But it is not the color she uses which gives the viewer the strong sense that her vision is about nature.

Only if one begins to think about the workings of nature which we are all familiar with and yet remain so much a mystery do we begin to understanding our strong reading of nature in these works. Passages of great quiet alternate with areas of tumultuous energy and movement. Areas that are spare appear in tandem with masses that are complex bundles and tangles. Minimal sits along side multiplicity. We encounter these opposites and contradictions in nature where germination and disintegration are a continuous process.

The infinite variations which appear in these works recall our ever changing emotional states and the range of our feelings. The paintings, with their process of a highly planned spontaneity, make one think of the ferociousness and also of the silence of nature and how our feelings can and do shift from one moment to the next. The tile works are more controlled in their process. Images are submerged in glazes. Depth, subtlety and beauty are present here as in the paintings but are achieved through a very different process.

Kyung Sun's work have great beauty but they are not glamorous or tasteful or fashionable. Their beauty lies in a more multi-level reading of the work. Looking at the richness of their surface is rewarding. Thinking about their asociations with nature gives us a fuller experience. Most important, reflecting on their analogous relationship to our emotional states gives us a powerful and rich visual experience. They are truly a "possessing" not a "picturing."

Linda Schrank
Professor, Graduate Fine Arts
Pratt Institute