Kim Yun Shin
Kim Yun Shin (b.1935, Korean) is a pioneering first-generation Korean female sculptor, whose free-spirited artistic journey includes her sculptures in wood, stone, as well as lithographs. Captivated by Argentine wood in 1984, the artist relocated to explore new materials and established Argentina as her artistic base. Her signature series, ‘Add Two Add One, Divide Two Divide One’, reflects the concept of ‘two becoming one through interaction, then splitting again to become two different ones’, as the works elucidate the sculptural process of adding one’s spirit onto wood, partitioning the space, and ultimately completing a work of art. Based on her philosophical thoughts on nature and the universe, Kim brings the natural attributes of material to life and demonstrates both a sense of uniqueness as well as universality that transcends time and place.
Aligned with her sculptural practice, Kim’s paintings are evocative of the unique vigor and dynamism of Argentina’s natural environment. Her paintings, which share the formal characteristics of surface fragmentations observed in her sculptures, are charged with a vibrant palette consisting of colors and patterns drawn from Korean and South American indigenous traditions. Also visible are influences from her travels including Mayan and Aztec symbolism from Mexico, reflecting the way the artist has consistently synthesized cosmological vocabularies. Organized under titles such as ‘Granted Wishes’, ‘Song of My Soul’, ‘Primal Vitality’, ‘Fragments of Memories’, and ‘Vibration’, her paintings exude a sense of primitive energy accentuated by her rough-hewn techniques such as scraping the canvas with a palette knife to expose layers of paint or applying paint to thinly sliced pieces of wood and stamping them onto the canvas. Composed of multicolored lines and free-floating planes, they celebrate the essence of vital force and virtue of life.
Born in 1935 in Wonsan, Gangwon province (North Korea), Kim graduated from the Department of Sculpture at Hongik University, Seoul, and left to study at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, specializing in Sculpture and Engravings. Kim returned to Korea in 1969, and before moving to Argentina, led the Korea Sculptress Association as well as participating in exhibitions including the 《12th Sao Paulo Biennale》 (1973) and 《Young Artist Exhibition》 (1975, 1983). In 2008, Kim Yun Shin Museum opened in Buenos Aires, presenting Kim’s inexhaustible artistic vigor, and Kim held a major solo exhibition titled 《Kim Yunshin: Towards Oneness》 at Nam-Seoul Museum of Art, Korea (2023) and participated in the 60th Venice Biennale (2024).
1935년 강원도 원산에서 태어난 김윤신은 어린 나이에 해방, 6.25전쟁 등 20세기 한반도의 대격변을 경험했고 이는 역설적으로 그에게 새로운 도전에 대한 두려움을 없애주었다. 김윤신은 홍익대학교 조소과를 졸업하고 5년 뒤인 1964년 프랑스로 유학을 떠나 파리 국립고등미술학교 조각과에 입학했다. 작가는 당시 세계 미술의 중심지인 파리에서 최신 미술 경향을 접하며 다양한 실험을 통해 독창적인 조형감각을 발전시켰다. 이후 1969년 귀국한 김윤신은 아르헨티나로 이주하기 전까지 십여 년 동안 1세대 여성 조각가로서 한국여류조각가회의 설립을 주도했고, 1973년 제12회 상파울루 비엔날레에 참여하였으며 한국 조각계에서 활발히 활동했다. 이런 그가 1984년 아르헨티나로 이주를 결심한 것은 순전히 작가로서 새로운 재료를 만나 자신의 작품세계를 확장하고자 하는 열망에서였다.
나무 및 돌 조각, 석판화, 회화 등의 매체를 아우르며 고유의 예술세계를 일구어 온 김윤신은 2023년 서울시립 남서울미술관에서 작업세계를 총체적으로 조망하는 국내 첫 국·공립 개인전 《김윤신: 더하고 나누며, 하나》를 통해 큰 주목을 받았으며, 2024년 초에는 국제갤러리, 리만머핀과 공동 소속 계약을 체결했다. 이어 같은 해 베니스비엔날레 제60회 국제미술전 본전시 《Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere》에 초청받은 작가는 국제갤러리에서의 대규모 개인전 《Kim Yun Shin》, 이응노미술관에서의 개인전 《김윤신-아르헨티나에서 온 편지》, 서울 아르코미술관에서의 그룹전 《ZIP》 등에 참여하는 등 구순의 나이에도 왕성한 활동을 이어가고 있다.
Kim Yun Shin (b.1935)
Add Two Add One, Divide Two Divide One 1992-2013
1992-2013
Algarrobo wood
59 x 51 x 35 cm / 23.2 x 20.1 x 13.8 in
Kim Yun Shin (b.1935)
Song of My Soul 2009-193
2009
Oil on canvas
100 x 100 cm / 39.4 x 39.4 in
Kim Yun Shin (b.1935)
Song of My Soul 2009-183
2009
Oil on canvas
100 x 100 cm / 39.4 x 39.4 in
Kim Yun Shin (b.1935)
Song of My Soul 2010-274
2010
Oil on canvas
27 x 35 cm / 10.6 x 13.8 in
Kim Yun Shin (b.1935)
Song of My Soul 2010-199
2010
Oil on canvas
27 x 35 cm / 10.6 x 13.8 in