Lot 1586: KIM JEONG HYANG

KIM JEONG HYANG
(B. 1981)
From the Bottom of the Fantastic Public Bath
Korean traditional pigment on Korean paper
162 x 130 cm. (63 3/4 x 51 1/8 in.)
Painted in 2008

Seoul, Korea, HUT, Speak out all your sorrows; Whine as much as you want, 2008.

HUT, Fantastic Public Bath with Bari-medion, exh. cat., Seoul, Korea, 2008 (illustrated, p. 37).

Ostensibly archaic in its color and ornamentation, Kim Jeong Hyang's whimsical scenes prompt a buoyant yet somber perceptual impression, blended influences of the Dunhuang caves, religious and Renaissance paintings. While perceptibly read as an older aesthetic in regards of medium and ambiance, her works are responsive to a contemporary discourse, and suggests modes of escapism by using water and bathing as symbols of cleansing away modern anxiety.

Perhaps to criticize the very idiom of utopia and the irony of an idealized society that is romantic but unattainable, Kim's painting conjures a safe and comfortable world that is inhabited with identical characters that are in joy with their familiarity with one another. Hence projects a blissful realm of narrative lightness while simultaneously mimicking the gravity of religious paintings in its blend of holy gold and red tones in the painting. Complicating the affectionate images of bathers and their amusing actions while floating on clouds, both Fantastic Public Bath with Bari- medion #10 (Lot 1587) and From the Bottom of the Fantastic Public Bath (Lot 1586) flaunt a decorative spatial and figurative configuration parallel to Renaissance paintings. Echoing the idea of 'rebirth' of classical learning in the Renaissance, Kim too depicts mythological scenes, and rediscovers her background in Oriental painting by using ink as a medium and a neutral color palette. Although humble in its overall composition, her painting is complex and rejects being viewed at specific viewpoints. Spatially shallow and filled with overwhelming details, the focus is spread out across Kim's depiction of a utopia of harmonious and just society, where the bathers in the canvas are relieved from their insecurities and alienation that once plagued their unappreciated existence.