Memory of Nature Carved on Paper (Director Kim Mi-hyang, Gallerydos)

Memory is one of the most important mental functions that stimulates many kinds of various ideas to human being. Series of processes such as storing experiences through senses and replaying them later is essential for Sungmi Kim in her working process. Particularly memories built through time, space and energy of nature shared with outdoor activity groups became the motif of her art works. Every artistic expression is realized by the material and technique, and this artist chose paper for such expressions of ever-changing emotion. The admiration for the tenacious yet fragile vitality of nature is visualized into 3-dimensional figures through endless and tiresome process of cutting and pasting pieces of paper.

Paper is easy material to deal with. It has been extremely common around human life for a long time, yet very easy to transform and light to handle. With paper, there are all kinds methods to transform planes into 3-dimensional figures, and due to these advantages paper has established itself as an independent area in pure plastic art. These days, paper is newly recognized as one of the most active expression ingredients that stimulates artistic inspiration. The countless expressive possibilities of paper enabled Sungmi Kim to continue researches on this material. The artist adds images obtained from surrounding objects onto her existing memories of nature, and continues building soft shapes only possible with paper. May it be material for plant in a pot sitting on the porch, an open book abandoned on floor, or space called house where the role of the artist as a mother and a wife cleverly entangled. Thoughts after thoughts, As ideas are attached on pieces of paper and reveal their shapes, the artist's emotion is embedded in them. As such, the memories given by time is refreshed and newly shaped into space though these works.

Aside from the papers carved out to form particular shapes, the artist has sad feeling for what are left - the remaining pieces of paper. She continues those long and tedious manual process of collecting the trashes and pasting them onto works as if the works would bring them new life. A piece of paper is divided into two kinds after cutting. The one remains with original paper and the one abandoned completely away from the paper. Now, both are not 'one' yet, but not completely 'different two' either. This contradictory words, 'Not-one yet not-two', is the huge subject the artist would like to present to the world. Rather than the analyzing and categorizing with black-and-white logic, moderate attitude accepting and tolerating everything is suggested here. The eyes of the artist lie on the debris left behind by majority. It has been an old subject for the artist to find harmony and balance in the world through attention to the abandoned. The title and expressing material has been changed today, but the subject remains on the same place. The alienated pieces of paper have been repeatedly reassembled and finally show organic changes in size, shape and interval.

Nature, as haven of life, gives human pleasure and various experience. From nature, the artist also obtains infinite potential and expresses them into her art works. Through memory Kim Sungmi extracts emotion of nature toward fingertips, and again moves it into paper to express longing for nature. Yet she doesn't merely reproduce it but further explores invisible inner order and expresses emotion of the memory. The philosophy of the artist is to give equal value to all things and find balance of life. Such ideas are delicately blended into her works. Therefore, it is an humble wish of the artist that these touching memories of nature become one of the switching opportunists to the people of modern world.