BEYOND

7 Jun-5 Sep 2024

Overview

In her first solo exhibition in Europe, Korean painter Kim Bohie 김보희 presents a new body of work that explores the subtleties of landscape. Kim synthesises various Korean and Western painting traditions to produce her own distinct style. Her paintings are about looking and personal connection to place, engaging with ideas around closeness – spiritual and physical – and the way it affects our vision. Kim works across paper and canvas, utilising ink and acrylic mediums to achieve a range of effects. Her quiet, elegant paintings often depict mountains, the ocean, or gardens, with recent works taking direct inspiration from her home island of Jeju, in South Korea. 

"I have always been interested in my surroundings, and I always am full of adoration for every scene of nature I find around me. I moved to Jeju Island over 20 years ago, and so the subject of my painting has become rooted in the natural landscapes of Jeju Island, its flowers and palm trees, the sea around my house and Leo, my beloved black Labrador Retriever.

My garden, especially, has become an alternative version of my own world, planting Washingtonia palms, Canary Island date palms, agave, hydrangea, rosemary and cactus, and my daily life within them becomes my paintings. The daily scenery that might be unnoticeable to others, things that other people may just pass by rather than an idealised perfect beauty of nature, is more magnetic to me."

- Kim Bohie, 2022