Beom Kim b. 1963

EDUCATION:

Seoul National University , Seoul , South Korea ; School of Visual Arts, New York , USA

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

SOLO - 2002 Art Sonje Center, Annex, Gyeongju, South Korea; 2000 Flower , Trans Hudson Gallery, New York, USA; Utility Folder sponsored by the Year of New Arts, Seoul and Trans Hudson Gallery, New York, USA

GROUP - 2006 All look same , Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy Transmediale: Smile Machine , Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, Germany; 2005 Venice Biennale, Korean Pavilion , Venice, Italy; Stevenson Lecture Theatre, British Museum, London, UK; Seoul: Until Now! , Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark; 2004 Look and See , Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea; A Praise for Still Life , Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea; Alchemy in Daily Life , National Contemporary Museum, Gwacheon, South Korea ; 2003 Istanbul Biennale , Istanbul, Turkey, Time after Time , Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, USA; Yanguang Canlan , Biz Art, Shanghai, China; 5: 5 th Anniversary , Art Sonje Center, Seoul, South Korea; Drawings by Contemporary Artists from Korea , The Korea Society, New York, USA; 2002 Under Construction , Japan Foundation Forum, Tokyo, Japan; Fantasia , East Modern Art Center, Beijing, China; Gwangju Biennale: Part 3 , Gwangju, South Korea

One of many aspects of Lewis Carroll's works is that even when dealing with fantastical subjects, the internal logics are remarkably complex and consistent. Through this consistency, Carroll was able to portray absurd, non-sensical worlds which were wholly different to ours, and yet were convincing and understandable. Beom Kim's works seems to follow similar path in that his works deal with fantastical, absurd and poetic, but dealt in such a way that the internal logic within the hermetic environment is wholly believable and convincing, and made the viewers question the validity of the logic which they were accustomed to.

His work featured in this show makes a gentle but effective poke at the mass media. His 'News' video show news readers from 9PM Korean news programme, well-dressed, manicured and not a hair our of place, saying something that is curiously out of place, such as

'There are many surprising things in this world. I am sure that even now such things are happening. However, people should not speak about it, or act surprised, or shout. If you remain calm, it will be time for a meal, then a time for sleep, and after a nice rest, it will be an another day'

What is interesting about this work is that it is a composite of hundreds of clips from the actual news programme. Although the quote spoken seems humorous, it is actually the way the general Korean public is looking at the world, and Kim Beom is satirizing not only the mass media, but also the thought process of the public.

Untitled (News) (2002)
Single channel video, 1min 4sec
Courtesy of the artist