Meta Painting, 2022
250 feuilles de papier de riz coréen / 250 Sheets of Korean rice paper
Courtesy de Kimsooja Studio et Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Anvers / Hong Kong


Kimsooja is first and foremost a painter. She approaches all of her work through a set of questions that originate in the act of painting on the surface of canvas. The cruciform, or the horizontal and vertical weave supporting the structure of painting remains a foundation upon which Kimsooja builds her artistic language. This work is made up of 250 sheets of hanji (traditional Korean rice paper) stacked into a single layer. Like a woven canvas, hanji is made by sifting a bath of dak tree fibres with a wooden sieve in vertical and horizontal directions. It is the result of a geometric performance. This painting-object, a manifestation of countless fibers intersecting in axial directions, reflects the artist’s vision of the world as a vast weave and a tableau undone.
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김수자는 무엇이든 회화에서 출발하는, 그야말로 화가이다. 그녀는 모든 작업은 캔버스 표면에 그려 나가는 회화 행위에서 비롯된 일련의 질문에서부터 뻗어 나간다. 그렇기에 회화를 지탱하는 수평과 수직의 직조, 즉 십자 형태의 구성은 여전히 김수자의 예술 언어를 구축하는 기반으로, 그녀의 예술 언어를 구축하는 토대가 된다. 이 작품은 전통 한지 250장을 하나의 평면으로 층층이 쌓아 구성된 것이다. 가로세로의 방향으로 실이 교차되며 캔버스가 직조되듯, 한지도 닥섬유를 물 위에서 수직과 수평 방향으로 건져 올리는 기하학적 퍼포먼스를 통해 만들어진다. 수많은 섬유가 축을 따라 교차하며 탄생한 이 회화적 오브제는, 세계를 거대한 직조물이자 풀려버린 하나의 장면으로 바라보는 작가의 시선을 반영한다.

Making Worlds, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
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In occasion of Sydney Modern Project's inauguration, Archive of Mind is now on view at Art Gallery of New South Wales in Australia. With the artwork, Kimsooja invites visitors to collect a handful of clay, sit at the large work surface, and empty their minds of distraction; to sink into the experience of forming a ball of clay between the hands, rolling and wrapping it into itself like an infinite Bottari. The process transforms simple, everyday actions into moments of meditation and transcendence. As each sphere is completed, it is added to the table, forming an organic arrangement that holds the imprint of each maker. Archive of mind is accompanied by Unfolding Sphere, a subtle soundscape composed of two sounds: the artist gurgling water and clay balls being pressed, rolled and colliding with one another. At some moments it recalls a distant thunderstorm, at others, a burbling stream.


This presentation of Archive of Mind is supported by a grant from the Australia-Korea Foundation, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Purchase with funds provided by the Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation 2018

Consisting of semicircular arches stretched over the canal that get lit delicately in the evening, To Breathe – Leiden symbolically attests to the connection between art and science that is Leiden’s core character. Furthermore, the series of arches across the canal is a metaphor for Kimsooja’s key motif of sewing and weaving, which also historically grounds the city’s textile tradition. The Lucas Art Award was presented by the Lucas van Leyden Fund, responsible for bringing contemporary art in the city. The work was executed by Anything is Possible and supported by Axel Vervoordt Gallery and it is on view for 3 years, until 2025.

The Cathédrale Saint-Étienne in Metz features new stained glass windows, created by Kimsooja. They are installed in the bays of the triforium in the south arm of the transept. The artist offers an abstract work designed to be a gentle experience, centred on colour and the changing light throughout the day and the seasons. The stained glass panes were created in collaboration with the French master glass maker, Pierre-Alain Parot, using a combination of blown glass and dichroic glass.


This public art commission of a permanent piece was initiated by the Ministry of Culture, France. The project, overseen by the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs of the Grand Est region, in close liaison and with constant collaboration with the clergy responsible for the cathedral, was designed as a highlight of the celebrations of the eighth centenary of this Gothic structure.