Myung-Joo KIM

I carry the mountain on my head. It is heavy. This mountain is my land.
Desire is enough to endure this pain. I am made of these mixed lands, a praise of a traveller’s life, 
made of dreams and vulnerability. NOSTALGIE is a project born from the overwhelming 
desire to find one’s inner promised land. A dream, finnally embraced by one’s own land, 
to leave one’s endless wandering. 
Myung-Joo Kim

 

 

Art that celebrates life 
The works presented by Myung-Joo Kim are reflective explorations of human existence and reflect her inner self and personal experiences. Kim‘s celebration of life goes beyond the dichotomies of good and evil, beauty and ugliness. Through her works – which extol life through the lens of mortality and explore the finite longing for the infinite – we gain insight into the multifaceted nature of existence and the complexity of life.
The mysterious gaze that watches us in silence evokes a deep resonance symbolized by the confusing pink of blood - a testimony to birth - and a flowing glaze that signifies the finiteness of life.

The relationship with nature
A salient aspect of Kim‘s work is her endeavor to dissolve the boundaries between humans and nature. The anthropomorphic plants and forms she creates explore the interactions between humans and nature, reminding us of the life force that comes from within. The dewy leaves capture both the continuity and the transience of life, merging with forms of glaze that evoke eternal tears. In her sculptures, the flowing glaze symbolizes the currents of life and the depths of emotions, capturing moments that float in time. In her works, Myung-Joo Kim expresses both the tenderness of nature and the resilience of life.
The plants in Kim‘s works are not images of nature, but visually embody the processes of life and introspection that stem from the artist‘s inner experiences and reflections. 
From the edge of infinity to the center of life In Kim‘s works, opposing concepts such as light and darkness, control and chance, heat and cold, consciousness and the unconscious coexist harmoniously, intensifying 
the tension characteristic of her preferred medium, ceramics. Fired at high temperatures, ceramics have the potential to transform beyond the control of the creator; 
Myung-Joo Kim embraces this unpredictability and integrates it seamlessly into her own intentions. This process transforms her ceramic sculptures from mere objects into beings that embody the artist‘s inner self and her feelings. Through her works, we gain insights into the human experience, which oscillates between existence and non-existence, life and death, the moment and eternity. This experience goes beyond a simple 
aesthetic and requires a profound reflection on being, as her works, attuned to her inner voice and the essence of her creations, reveal truths about our lives.
(abridged text by Shin-Young Park, curator of the Korea Foundation)

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Born in South Korea, Kim Myung-Joo began studying ceramic sculpture at the age of 19 at Hongik University College of Fine Arts in Seoul. While learning traditional techniques, she was encouraged to find her own world. After graduating, she used Mac software to create web images for a living, but she preferred to use pencils for her art. Pencils and brushes allow her to get as close as possible to her feelings, troubles and emotions, which helps her move from drawing to three-dimensional works.
In 2001, she moved to Paris and began to express her strong inspiration for her newfound French nature in imaginary paintings on faience, such as plates and tiles. 
These drawings were then transformed into three-dimensional sculptures, resulting in poetic sculptures that combine European culture and Asian animism with her own unique shapes: plants, animal bodies and human heads. This was an important step towards the dreamlike fantasies that shaped her imagination.
In 2014, she completed her master’s degree at ENSAV La Cambre in Brussels. Her time in Brussels marked a significant evolution in her development, it was a time when the inner expressiveness of the work was becoming more free. Another rich source of inspiration for her work has been residencies in places with diverse natural environments. She began her first residency in Shigaraki, Japan, in 2008 and has continued to have activities of residencies in Korea and Europe, including ClayArch Gimhae Museum in 2015 and 2016, Daejeon Temi Art Residency in 2019, and the École d’art du Beauvaisis in France in 2022. As time passed and she continued her life in different places, she felt her reflection on the most basic question of 
all – existence – build up.
In 2013, the Ariana Museum in Geneva honoured her with a prize at the Parcours de Carouge and purchased the sculpture. In 2014, she was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at C14 in Paris; in 2015, she was invited to participate in the 18th International Biennale of Ceramics’ Objectif Terre’ in Châteauroux; and in 2016, she was invited to participate in the 24th International Biennale of Ceramics in Vallauris. In 2017, She held a solo exhibition, ‘Secret Faces,’ at ClayArch Gimhae Museum for the first time in her mother country. Along with sculpture, she also works in painting and drawing, and has participated in various exhibitions in Europe and Korea, including Kunstforum Solothurn in Switzerland, where she is a member of the AIC. Today, Kim 
Myung-joo’s world of ceramics has become more distinct, occupying a unique place in contemporary ceramics.
(Vasi Hirdo, Editor in Chief of Ceramics Now Magazine)