interview

• 
• 
• 
• 

Moderato

Shubhalakshmi Shukla speaks to the Korean artist Kim Kyoungae about her art and life. Kyoungae is concerned about the ecological imbalances happening around due to urban development. Her art speaks of these concerns. Excerpts:

Shubhalakshmi Shukla: Can you explain the title of the show/ works ‘Moderato’?

Kim Kyoungae: Moderato in first place is to do with speed. If there can be three divisions that is slow, medium and fast, I consider the medium as the best for me. There fore I like the speed of the cycle… Its speed allows me to not just observe but also involve in an incident on the road.

Secondly, it is about Space. Like, my earlier show was titled ‘Beyond Horizon’. At that time I was rushing to catch, finish in time etc. but I realized that one does not move-up vertically in life, one always moves horizontally. Thirdly, it is to do with the moderate rhythm of the music.

SS: What is the purpose of this show?

KY: It is product of certain time period, where I have questions and I am finding my answers to these. So, that way I am trying to connect or moderate in between a lot of things.

SS: One can observe that memory has played a significant role in constructing these set of landscapes. Or they are like dreams observed by a single participant either placed in a corner or appears in groups.

KY: Yes, I can say that I have a strong desire to travel...some are the memories of landscapes in Korea. Then I consider the pictorial space like a stage where I could perform as if in a dream (thus the spaces often appear to be dark). I appear in the form of an object, an animal or a human being dressed in the chosen attire to perform on the stage. I have always been an ‘outsider’ and that is my way to be in a space.

SS: Most of the landscapes are immersed in a rhythmic silence. It is also an open space which often enclosed within an architectural site; do you relate it to the landscape around you?

KY: These are kind of mental or philosophical meanderings from my studio space. Physically I am present in the studio but mentally I am in vast open spaces… that way I coexist in both the spaces.

And yes, recently behind my studio space lots of trees are cut down to make a mall. So I get affected by this kind of changing landscapes around and they appear in my paintings.

SS: Tell us something about your schooling in art. Does it still play an important role still in your image making process?

KY: In 1992 I finished my graduation in Oriental Arts from Andong National University, South Korea. After a gap of two years I post-graduated in Museology form the Faculty of Fine Arts , M.S. University , Baroda.

Yes, the practice in ‘Oriental Arts’ still appears in my work like minute figures in enormous landscapes which is a quality of Japanese landscapes too.
 

SS: Being a woman artist you can be ambitious and dedicate your full time to painting. How do you strike a balance between family, household and your work?

KY: First, I am a human being and then an artist. So, my best memory is of being a mother. The role of mother changed my life radically. It makes me answer all questions as a mother, as I do not want to feel ashamed in any consequence before Aditi.