Created using hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of hand-rolled paper seeds/quills, Ilhwa Kim’s art-pieces are grand yet detailed. Each hand-rolled paper seed acts as a pixel, playing a small role in the grander scheme of things. Millions of these ‘pixels’ come together to create some staggeringly beautiful pieces of art, which are now on display at The House Of Fine Art (HOFA) in London.

Titled Real Life Architecture, Kim’s latest exhibition “will feature more than 20 large panel artworks. Pieces that explore a liminal space between human perception of existence and the true state of reality, a body of abstract artworks representing true life without the limitations of senses”, HOFA said.

Designer: Ilhwa Kim

Kim’s abstract works are impactful artworks composed of thousands of ‘Hanji’ paper seeds whose inherent dynamism creates works of art that shift between painting and sculpture, delivering art as a new experience of discovery, dynamism, and intrigue.

Kim’s works are larger than life, but start with small, humble pieces of paper. Each segment or seed in these pieces starts as a strip of paper that’s rolled into its flat ‘clump’, and then stuck on a massive canvas. What Kim eventually creates is a dizzying mosaic of thousands of such paper seeds. The South Korean artist’s current collection, titled “Real Life Architecture” explores the ‘chasm’ between what we see and the tactile reality of our visions. The artworks look like Post-Impressionist paintings, with each seed acting as a defined stroke, almost like the works of Van Gogh, Gauguin, or Cézanne.

“My seed works contain the dialogue between our senses and the tactile world surfaces, dreaming to be the monument of our sensory architecture.” – Ilhwa Kim

“Cezanne was right in saying that our senses do not represent the outer world as it is. However, this does not mean we cannot or do not have to represent things as they are. Without knowing the surface of the apple, for instance, we cannot learn how to cut the apple or how to make juice out of it”, Kim said.

You can view Ilhwa Kim’s artwork on the HOFA website, or visit the gallery between October 6th and 20th, 2022.

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