With an aim to increase public engagement in the exhibition program of the KCC; by embracing new ideas from the general public, here in Canada and from Korea, the KCC invited applications from artists throughout 2017. In January 2018, three artists have been selected by a jury committee led by Adam Welch, Associate Curator of the National Gallery of Canada.

Willy Kim was one of the three artists selected at that time. The other two artists, Oh soon-sil and Kyung Ah Lee had a duo exhibition at the KCC Gallery in the summer of 2018 with the exhibition Reminiscing Our Stories: a taste of Minhwa, Korean Folk Painting.

A self-taught landscape artist, Willy Kim retains boundless love and commitment on art and nature. He exhibited 6 solo shows and 35 group exhibitions in Korea, Canada and the U.S. for the past 30 years.

The body of work created by Willy Kim employs a mix of Korean material and his own unique painting methods in demonstrating the landscape of Canada which he has been familiarizing with for the past decade or so.

The endeavor to search for his own existence as an immigrant in an unhomely land reverberates throughout his landscape paintings which apply mapping in and place-making of the nature for his own mindscape. It is a fascinating series of paintings which we are excited to exhibit here at the KCC.

Yongsup Kim, Director of the KCC mentions "I would like to sincerely thank Mr. Kim for sharing his wonderful works with us, and I hope this exhibition will leave an enduring impression on many Canadian spectators."

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Mindscape: Landscape as a Place-making Practice

Willy Kim is a mixed media landscape artist. He was born in Goheung, Chollanam-do, South Korea, and spent most of his adult life in Seoul. His trajectory as an artist started when he joined a high school visual arts club, inspired by admiration for his older brother's artistic genius. Eventually, Kim's enthusiasm for art led him to join a number of local artist collectives and to actively participate in various en plain air field trips with his fellow painters until he permanently moved to Canada.  Kim blissfully recalls these days as a period of vigorous self-training and exploration of nature, which fulfilled his yearning for landscape painting.  Kim immigrated to London, Ontario with his family in 2009.

Kim is a self-taught artist who incorporates discarded materials, recyclable items, and found objects from our daily lives as primary media.  He had painted figurative landscapes using watercolour or oil in his earlier days of career, and gradually departed from the two-dimensional representations of landscape.  His current works emphasize the lively movement of the scenery by adding volume and texture to the plane.

When preparing a piece, Kim primes the canvas with his customized paste in order to realize the relief-style images. Before colouring, he applies either a mixture of sawdust, oil and sand, or a thin layer of red clay onto the surface.  For the same effect, he plasters a paper clay mixture of flour, ground paper and acrylic paint directly on the canvas with palette knives, clay knives, or forks.

In addition to the shift in the primary media for his art making, over the years, he has made a stylistic transition from figurative to semi-abstract sculptural paintings. Since 2004, he opts for simplified shapes and lines to capture the affective elements of landscape, downplaying its topographical depictions.  Reminiscent of the Chinese literati painting traditions within which the painters idealize the real view through their subjective lenses, Kim's landscapes embody his mindscape. His forms and colours transform through the process of deconstruction, deformation, and reconstruction.  During the reconfiguration process, he establishes visual dialogue with nature, his intimate memories of South Korea, and the scenery of his current hometown in Canada.

In Kim's art practice, painting landscapes performs as a way of place making.  His longing for making a 'home away from home' has been consistently translated into his work.  His artistic gaze, nurtured by diasporic sensibilities, is warm and inviting, and this gaze defines his mindscapes.  They exist in elegant gazebos in the Korean royal gardens, his childhood home, and riverside scenes along the Bonnechere River in Eganville.

Kim's work has been exhibited in galleries in Seoul and New York City, including galleries in Ontario, Canada.  This is his seventh solo exhibition.  Currently, Kim lives and works in Cobden, Ontario.

- Euijung McGillis (Independent Curator/Lecturer) 

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Artist Statement 

I still remember entering an art studio for the first time, almost forty years ago. It was filled with the smell of turpentine oil. A strong scent of the oil ignited the passion for painting in my mind that day. Since my journey of painting started, I have taken breaks from it every now and then, but I have always come back to canvas, as a salmon would go back to where it was hatched to complete the circle of life. I humbly admit that it has been challenging to make time for painting while taking care of daily responsibilities as bread earner in the family.  

In my art practice, I find motifs and themes of painting in my surroundings and in nature. On the way to Pembroke from my house, there is an old barn. Standing in front of this weathered building, I can visualize its heyday and the joy of the farmer in harvest season. I watch beavers swimming down along the Bonnechere River bank that is always crowded with blooming and withering Irises. These idyllic images lead me into the serenity of nature, which has become the recurring themes of my landscapes.  

Among other repeated motifs, I enjoy painting sunflowers. They remind me of my hometown in Korea. Every year, I have planted sunflowers in the backyard to remember my summers in Korea, not knowing that sunflowers are indigenous to North America. It may have been the reason why I am drawn to sunflowers. They may have been homesick being in Korea as I have been in Canada.  My landscape paintings embody all these personal memories and appreciation for nature, reflecting both the present and the past of my mindscapes. 

As I contemplate on this artistic journey, painting has been instrumental in making meaningful connections with my emotions, admiration for nature, and most importantly, Canadians who have come to enjoy my artwork.  Inviting all of you to my seventh solo exhibition in Ottawa, I am very thankful to continue on this journey of making connections with the places that I call home. 

I greatly appreciate Director Yongsup Kim and Senior Advisor Moonsun Choi for holding this exhibition at the KCC. And finally, my special thanks to Euijung McGillis for her elegant prologue and sincere advices. 

- Willy Kim

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About the Artist - Willy Kim 

Solo Exhibitions  

June, 2019:   

The 7th Solo Exhibition, Korean Cultural Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada August, 2016  

The 6th Solo Exhibition, the ARTS PROJECT, London, Ontario, Canada 

June, 2015:

Booth Show, Purvis Gallery, Pembroke, Ontario, Canada 

June, 2014: 

The 5th Solo Exhibition, Bonnechere Museum, Eganville, Ontario, Canada October, 2012  

The 4th Solo Exhibition, the ARTS PROJECT, London, Ontario, Canada 

February, 2009:

The 3rd Solo Exhibition, Gallery Hwan, Seoul, South Korea  

May, 2007:

The 2nd Solo Exhibition, Chohyung Gallery, Seoul, South Korea  

November, 2005:  

The 1st Solo Exhibition, Gallery Seoho, Seoul, South Korea  

Select Group Exhibitions  

2013  

2013 NEW CANADIANS Exhibition, the ART PROJECTS, London, Ontario, Canada 

The 28th Artfusion – Music & Art, The Artfusion Gallery, London, Ontario, Canada 

2011  

The 22nd Annual Show of Korea Outdoor Watercolorist’s Group 

(Seoul Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea)  

2011 NEW CANADIANS Exhibition, the ART PROJECTS, London, Ontario, Canada 

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