Paju — From August 14 to October 20, 2024, Mimesis Art Museum is hosting MIMESIS AP8: The Drifters, the eighth installment of the Mimesis Artist Project (MIMESIS ARTIST PROJECT). This exhibition features works by painters who have built provocative artistic worlds while reflecting on the social role of the artist.
The exhibition presents the works of artists Kim Dongjin, Lee Chae Young, and Choi Young Bin, who are portrayed as drifters, navigating a transitional phase in both art and life. Through their works, the exhibition explores how art coexists with and evolves within the uncertainties of life. Visitors are invited to immerse themselves in the gradually shifting sensibilities presented throughout the exhibition.
Kim Dongjin is an artist who has focused on depicting discarded objects, drawing inspiration from his everyday surroundings. His parents operated a waste management facility, which became both a daily landscape and a lens through which he understood the world. Kim Dongjin’s works often involve fragmented collages of discarded items and figures, expressing a distorted or critical view of society.
Recently, as his surroundings have changed, Kim Dongjin is undergoing a period of separation from the materials he has long explored. His notable work, At the Beginning of the End, They, and I (2023), addresses the closure of his parents’ facility, shifting the emphasis from traditional representation to brushwork and color composition on the canvas. This work hints at the new themes and subjects Kim Dongjin will explore, highlighting his ongoing search for transformation amid instability.
Lee Chae Young is known for her realistic and meticulous ink paintings of urban and natural landscapes. Her works, rendered in calm monotones, convey an underlying sense of unease and loneliness, capturing the hidden aspects of everyday scenes.
Lee Chae Young’s early works, which closely resemble photographs in their precision, depict forgotten urban landscapes with a serene detachment. In her more recent works, she captures subtle shifts in time and perception within these landscapes. Her art evokes a quiet yet unfamiliar sensation in viewers, revealing another dimension of existence within seemingly ordinary spaces.
Choi Young Bin explores painting through the lens of the body and sensory experience, pursuing a unique aesthetic ideal. Her work connects past experiences with current projects, continuously discovering new meanings and relationships.
Choi Young Bin’s recent works move beyond a narrative-driven world to suggest a space where images float in an ethereal atmosphere. The meticulously connected aesthetic structures in her paintings offer a distinctive sensory experience, reflecting her pursuit of a harmonious and balanced composition.
This exhibition delves into the unstable lives of these three artists and the artistic possibilities that arise from such instability. Through the works of Kim Dongjin, Lee Chae Young, and Choi Young Bin, visitors are invited to gain new insights into the intersection of art and life.
Sayart / Maria Kim, sayart2022@gmail.com
