Someone asks, “What is this technique?” There is no curt way to respond and the story digresses.

The idea of medium in art is the method of expression or medium of an artwork, where it shifts into a form or purpose of art itself. Exhibition at Whanki Museum in 2017 ends a chapter on the discussion of my works on visual aspects, including the views of Flâneur, museums, audience, and views inside the art. I then began to ask more fundamental questions over my works, of its identity and work itself.

All the ingredients or processes in my works themselves become a form or content of the work. From inception, the prepared plates and process and its outcome in works consolidate into one. Attitude becomes a form and that form becomes the attitude. And I have decided to call this the Synthetic Medium for now.” – Kim Hong Shik

*‘Synthetic Medium’ does not speak only of the physical condition, but also covers the process and the views of the contents in the works.

Utilizing photos and prints since the 1990s to build her own medium, Kim Hong Shik returns in two years for her solo exhibition, 『Kim Hong Shik. ZIP: B Theory』. The title ‘B Theory’ derives from a philosophical concept that time does not have a tense, but that the past, present, and future coexists. Focused on location and view, Kim has been presenting series in city, flaneur and museums in the past. But the new exhibition showcases new works with motifs from her early productions and her signature pieces from the past altogether.

Reflecting on the identity of her works for a long period of time, Kim goes back to the origin to find the answer. She expresses the motifs of her earlier works as a personal medium she has developed over the years. Kim’s works, which are present medium added to past motifs, lead the direction of the future. The coexistence of past, present, and future in Kim’s single production and the reveal of both new and old works align with B-theory of time. “In this exhibition, my new works especially express what I’ve been working as an artist,” Kim comments.

Kim pursued her career as an artist actively starting from late 1990s by building prints of images from magazines and back-then media. The artist’s interest in prints grew as she repeated her print productions and realized its potential to produce myriad of expressions through different carving, density, and material on the print. From then on, Kim diversified the ingredients for her prints including aluminum and stainless steel, and presented prints not as a tool, but as a finished work that combines both process and result. Her interest in medium and matter lead to the creation of Kim’s very own medium, which is difficult to identify as either photo or print; hence she concludes as Synthetic Medium.

If Kim’s previous exhibitions were mostly on views toward outside, this exhibition portrays views toward inside, elaborating on the Synthetic Medium or the combined result of artist’s interest and contemplation over medium. The essence of Synthetic Medium is that every ingredient and process becomes work’s content and form as itself; process and ingredient combine to be a purpose and a complete piece. Kim’s workshop in the basement is again the method and tool for her production, but also an artwork itself. Second floor displays frames used in prints and her works up to date. Audience can relate to Kim’s contemplation over medium and peek into the development of Synthetic Medium. Composed of originals that become motifs, and new works derived from the originals, first floor expresses the newly developing and expanding medium through recontextualization and restructuring.