Interview with Sky Kim
Repetition,
Reincarnation and the Sensual
(originally posted on wsimag.com)
Sky Kim is a New York
City-based artist originally from South Korea. In her pieces she often repeats
basic patterns, possibly investigating the need, possibility or hope for spiritually
emergent qualities appearing through this process. Kim also approaches sensual
energy as an essential part of the human experience – sensuality as a type of
energy or vibrational waves.
I discovered your
work at a 2014 group show at Garis & Hahn called ‘Leaps into the Void:
Shamanism, Meditation, Transcendence, Oblivion’. This was an amazing show
featuring artists who referenced alternative belief systems, many of which were
grounded in ancient religious or philosophical systems. I was attracted to your
commitment to pre-modern ideas like 'cell memory' and reincarnation. How did
you develop these interests/beliefs?
My inspiration comes from my philosophical belief in
reincarnation and, on an unconscious level, my work is largely influenced by
the loss of my twin sister at birth. This early separation is probably the
source of emptiness that I always feel inside. Growing up, it was tough for a
little girl to deal with this uneasy feeling. I had to find a way to fill the
hollowness in my heart. I tried to figure out why I was here, in this lifetime.
There were so many ‘whys’ in my little head and this made me look everywhere
for an answer. I began to dig into spiritual books, religions, new age beliefs,
etc. I finally found a partial but critical answer to most of my questions in
reincarnation, which I thought explained many incomprehensible phenomena in
life. This realization influenced my work a great deal. I began to use the repetition
of circles and lines to create patterns that represent the wheel of life: reincarnation.
I believe that remembering my twin sister in my art is the only way for me to
complete my being, as every old and new cell of my body remembers every minute
I was with her in the womb. My memory of her in the
long but also brief time we spent together in the womb, which was the only time
that we were together, has entirely prevailed in my unconsciousness.
What about folks
who do not believe in reincarnation - can they derive anything meaningful from
your work?
Whether they believe in reincarnation or life just being
one-time thing, they shouldn’t have any problem appreciating the meditative patterns
that are both optically three dimensional and still at the same time. I’ve
encountered a number of viewers who don’t consider themselves spiritual but
told me they sensed an enormous energy emitting from my work which had a
soothing and healing effect on them.
That Garis and
Hahn show also partly highlighted the cognitive/emotional processes involved in
the creation of works requiring time-consuming repetition. Can you tell me a
bit about your mental state as you create?
My work comes from stillness and everything within. Out
of that stillness, a certain impulse comes, like every sound comes from
stillness. I meditate on the nothingness and then something wants to be born
and expressed. I honor that quiet space. It’s a deeper space where your mind is
no longer operating, but just being in your consciousness. I create a sacred
space, a place where I can have a dialogue with my true self--my higher self
underneath my humongous ego. I own that moment and that uninterrupted time and
space is one of the key ingredients of my creation. You can’t rely on your
thinking to produce something powerful and original. You simply focus on the
energy of your present moment. It’s natural for negative thoughts to crawl into
your mind but you don’t fight with them because whatever you fight against, you
make it stronger. Doing isn’t enough, BEING is necessary. Artists need a lot of
time alone. I simply BE in the present moment and enjoy whatever I have.
Presence isn’t an old pattern. Instead, it’s eternally new and timeless. I
complete my life at each moment in my studio since I have nowhere else to go
but within. When I’m fully present at the moment, there’s enough of everything.
When I know that everything is provided, I stop competing for love, power or whatever
I wish to obtain. Then I experience abundance, a pool of energy and inner
peace. That is when I’m ready to pick up my pencil. My studio practice is very
meditative but also labor intensive as it requires both undivided focus and
raised vibrations which create the work. Repeating patterns is like citing a mantra
over and over again.
Your visit to the
Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation influenced a whole series of your pieces. How
did that visit affect you?
I’m very sensitive to the energy field in places,
especially when I visit sacred spots where there is believed to be a strong
vortex. I feel the energy with all my senses and I even physically get affected
sometimes which is not always pleasant. I felt the presence of strong energy
from the red rocks in Sedona, Arizona and the Chichen Itza Pyramid site in
Yucatan, Mexico. Since I try to contain condensed energy in each circle and fluid
line in my work, I’m genuinely drawn to those ancient sites and natural
formations which have become a source of my inspiration.
There was a time that
your work was considered to be too sexual. Can you tell me about this event?
I was showing my work with the Victory Arts Project in
Jersey City. My watercolor paintings and marker drawings were displayed on 5
tall wooden panels in the large glass windows of the building. Since the show
room was located in a financial district, my work became controversial. To me
the images were subtle and not provocative, but to some people they were too sexual
to show in public. This was all happening while I was in the UK. Upon my return,
I discovered that 3 of 5 works were covered with sheets of blank paper. I
didn’t understand why I was getting such reactions when there were gigantic
billboards nearby that exposed half-naked blondes in embarrassingly seductive
poses that never seemed to bother anyone. I was amazed by their double
standard.
Art and sex have
always been tied together, probably because sexual desire seems the perfect
analog for spiritual desire and the beauty of sexual union mirrors the beauty
of the union between desire for something more and its fulfillment. Can you
tell me the extent that you are exploring sex or desire in your work?
Images in my work are often feminine,
delicate, untouchable, venerable and sensual with a strong sense of sexuality. I
explore the similarities in the scope of birth and life with the images of
flowers and seeds that are associated with a fertility, germination, growth and
evolution. I create these images to get a sense of uncanny sensuality but in a
more playful, teasing way. As a result, the organic, metaphoric images are not
overly but they are obviously sexual, and at the same time they are somewhat
enigmatic, elusive and ambiguous; just enough to stimulate your imagination.
I often use the symbols of
stamen and pistil to illustrate what we once were in the womb, the beginning
point of life and of my personal memory of my twin sister who shared my time in
my mother’s womb and with me relied on a single umbilical cord. The image of
seeds, flower petals and blood on the surface, whose personality also implies
both the principles of Yin and Yang, the male and female energies, co-exist in
one body. They shouldn't be interpreted as a neutral gender; instead they
should be understood as the life energy that a fertilized egg newly acquires,
beyond the visual, sexual differences of the flesh. There are two different
energies that co-exist, but their essential natures don't blend together into a
total stranger.
I
have explored issues around the representation of sexuality within a personal
and emotional context. I focus on developing new aesthetics to represent a
female body with the inclusion of the masculine point of view. Working together
with drawing, painting, performance and sculpture, my work has often played,
not without humor, on the ambivalence of the feminine and masculine
relationship in terms of sexuality. In my constant work on the
interrelationship between the masculine and the feminine, I manage to render
the interchangeability of sexes and of sexuality by deceiving conventions. The complete, vital form is favored not in order to
discover who I am, but to create myself anew.
Do you still enjoy
using scrolls? Why did you start?
I try to produce at least one scroll piece a year. It’s a
time consuming process which requires serious commitment and dedication. One
day, about 10 years ago, I was going to cut the paper after I finished a
regular sized painting on a paper roll but didn’t want to stop the flow I was
feeling. I decided to paint the whole 30 foot-long paper roll just to record
the whirlpool-like creative energy I was having at the moment of creation.
Were you
influenced by other artists who use repetition and/or alternative belief
systems? With which artists of the past do you identify with?
Oddly enough, if there’s anyone whom I feel connected to,
it would be Basquiat. Our styles are totally different, almost opposite from
each other, but I’ve always thought that he is like my soul mate in my creative
practice. Many people think that my work is precisely calculated and
meticulously planned and controlled but that’s not the case at all. It’s all
done by free hand, automatically drawn without knowing where to go next. My
only belief system is my own sense of intuition which is the strong driving force
of my creation from start to finish.
During a time of
social crisis, do you think an artist should attempt to make some type of
social statement? Do you consider aspects of your work political? Are you
interested in politics?
When wasn’t there a time of social crisis in the history
of mankind? Somewhere around the globe, innocent children, women and men are suffering
from horrendous violence right this moment. I’m interested in both politics and
social issues and I believe that artists should always be alert. Whether or not
they should make political, social statements in their work should depend on how
literal they want their voice to be heard. I strongly feel responsible for all
the issues we’re facing today because we’re co-creating every moment, every
reality together as one massive collective consciousness. My work shows who I
am, every inch of me, but it’s not necessarily showing any particular social
issue in a literal context. All the issues that I want to address are rather
dealt with energetically. I’m a transmitter that generates and transmits
vibrational waves carrying messages and signals through a constant tug of war
embedded in the organic undulations in my work.
