“Breath[e]” into Life: The Artist as Creator
Myeong Beom Kim’s “Breath”
Thomas Masters Gallery
Chicago, IL
April 2009
“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)
His mouth connected to a red shape before a camera, Myeong Beom Kim takes a deep breath and thrusts life into a balloon, watching as it grows larger and larger before his eyes, taking its own shape and floating effortlessly across the room. The artist, accompanied by the philosophical system of hylozoism, approaches his viewers in the exhibition “Breath” with the belief that as he creates art, he breathes life into each of his pieces. In a sense, what Kim is attempting to achieve is similar to a foundational biblical concept, where God the Creator breathes life into dust and creates man. This concept, when merged with appreciation of “God’s green earth,” as a masterpiece of art that creates, sustains, and inhabits life is a very big task for an artist to recreate. Yet Kim does this intricately in “Breath.” The photograph of Kim’s lips breathing into a balloon entices viewers for this appealing exhibition at Thomas Masters Gallery, located in Old Town, Chicago. All of the pieces in “Breath” are untitled and undated, however Kim is a contemporary artist lacking so much information as even a biography available for the public. Curated by Youn Soo Kim from February 27-March 29, Kim’s show truly captures the breath of viewers with its few small pieces, dominant levitating tree with extending roots and multilayered spiritual denotations.
Visiting this exhibition halfway through its duration reveals Kim’s initial mission for “Breath,” supporting the notion that all things that are alive will deteriorate and inevitably pass away. Curator Youn Soo Kim states that Kim “recreates principles of hylozoism – that all things possess life.” Hylozoism is a Catholic doctrine that does not only include all objects possessing life, but expands to all matter. The Original Catholic Encyclopedia defines this as childish lifestyle, an “inexperienced way of looking on nature.”1 Interestingly, Kim’s “Breath” holds such a depth of spirituality that childishness is not inherently present. In accordance with this principle, several pieces that the show initially displayed were already removed, candles halfway melted, and below the ominous levitating tree were several deflated and withered red balloons.
Following the creaky wooden floorboards to the innermost gallery of Thomas Masters, the viewer is confronted with a commanding tree which appears to be floating to the ceiling, sprouting inflated red balloons as leaves. In addition, before the tree are four identical white pedestals. The first holds a scale that recalls the American symbol of justice, equally balanced with two partially melted white candles. Across from the scale, a second stand exhibits a thick, medium sized white candle, which is melted halfway and has a wiry, sprawling tree rather than a wick. Another pedestal simply displays three matches, composed neatly on the white surface. The last pedestal facing the tree has been topped with a plastered, white balloon. The objects appear as reliquaries before a holy figure, while the Thomas Masters Gallery is a symbol of an ancient temple, hosting the holy relic in its inmost chapel.
According to the curator, the untitled artwork that features a scale with two white candles is the demonstration of the balance of humanity, where all people are equal. Here the candles represent two people (one on each side), at the same time the scale represents life. Therefore the purpose for this piece is to show the equality that people as a whole share with each other. If the scale represents justice, this supports the notion of equality. In American society, justice is blind. It must remain blind so people can be held on the same regard. If this remains true, the United States Declaration of Independence reaches its mission when it stated:
“That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”2
Behind the pedestal with the scale is another pedestal presenting an untitled thick white candle, which has melted down. A wiry tree has replaced the wick. As the candle burns, the tree remains. This can trigger many associations within the viewer, depending on who is viewing this piece. To some viewers, the candle could signify life’s temporality while the tree denotes that nature is a constant. This reminds that nature sustains life for living beings, thus emphasizing nature must be elevated to a superior level among humans. As a human race, it is an oft-made mistake to place ourselves above nature, and this informing artwork is an awakening to that error.
The white clay balloon is important to notice as a precursor to the spiritual role of the massive floating tree, due to its own task of representing the spirituality of the exhibition. This untitled artwork encompasses Kim’s depiction of his role as the Creator, of using his breath to bring life to his creations. So he “breathes” life into the balloon, and gives it form with his own hands, complete with a navel. By pinching this navel in its painted white skin, Kim creates the effect of the balloon as a baby. He breathes life into this substance, which is similar to an embryo when it is in its most rudimentary stage. Kim’s breath allows this object to grow into a full state similar to the embryo in the mother’s belly, after God has given it life. He displays it to his audience with pride in its flawlessness, much like a parent would display their new child.
The pieces of art that stand before the floating tree have an expressive quality and have multiple layers of signification and signifiers. There are recurring themes of fire, trees and use of the color white. Even the exhibition room has a solid white color. These signifiers can be interpreted into a variety of themes, as previously mentioned. Relevant to the title and theme of the exhibit “Breath,” fire is a recurring subject matter within the artwork. Most obviously, a requirement to extinguish fire is breath, or exhalation. Also, according to University of Michigan, fire is also a symbol of purity3. The combination of this potential synonymous meaning with the purity denoted by Kim’s use of white is remarkable because it furthers the signification of this exhibition as a temple of holiness, spirituality, and purity. Also, trees are symbolized multiple times due to their continued sustenance of humans by production of oxygen, the element humans need to breathe. The use of the color white in such strong prevalence is engaging, as white is commonly a symbol of purity, spirituality, and neutrality. It is also signified in terms of “white or black,” it is a paradigmatic sign that is known by what it is only because of what it is not. This is all in direct relation to Barthes’ writing:
“As a total of linguistic signs, the meaning of the myth has its own value, it belongs to a history [in this case, the history of creatorship and purity, for example]…in the meaning, a signification is already built… The meaning is already complete, it postulates a kind of knowledge, a past, a memory, a comparative order of facts, ideas, decisions.”4
These themes are pertinent to the use of the levitating red tree (also untitled), which commands the most attention for all of the art in the gallery.
The hovering tree is nearly holy in its presence, covering a scale that is much larger than the viewers. While it is typically normal for a tree to outgrow a human, the act of the tree levitating and the outreaching roots (also freely floating) are not. The roots engage the viewer by forcefully extending in all directions at shoulder’s height, therefore authorizing their own power. And although we are under the impression that the tree needs the balloons for levitation, it is quick to correct the viewers that this simply is not true. The tree has already discarded several wilted balloons, devoid of life and lacking the life-giving breath from their Creator (Kim). The tree appears to hover in the air, lacking the necessity of helium filled balloons. On occasion, if the gallery is silent, the tree can be heard creaking rather ominously. This could either be a method used to depict the tree’s control over the exhibit, its holiness and power, or it could even be the tree requesting the aid of the viewers in using their own exhalations to keep it afloat. Viewing the tree from different perspectives allows it to be seen differently.
The artist uses the color scheme white, black, and red to surround the tree. Paradigms are often referred to as “white and black,” in terms of the manner in which people view the world. Either something must be white or it must be black. This tree must be alive or it must be dead. It must be secured or it must be held by helium. In certain situations, people consider viewing things in “gray,” meaning they blend two paradigms. By introducing an aesthetically compelling visual of red as holding a massive responsibility (for the helium-filled balloons that are “lifting” the tree to the ceiling), Kim introduces an entirely new point of view. Rather than viewing the world in black and white, his exhibition suggests, one should consider a previously unheard of perspective. Of course this tree is floating towards the ceiling, and whether or not it is “affixed” should not be the issue. Instead, the issue should be what feelings this provokes within the viewer. Walter Benjamin wrote about the “aura” of art, which reaches on many levels to art viewers.
“It is significant that the existence of the work of art with reference to aura is never entirely separated…”5
Rather than focusing on the improbability of a tree floating towards a ceiling, or concentrating on the possibility of its life, or its affixation to the top of the room, one should consider how the tree reaches and provokes their feelings, and what those feelings could mean for them. Nevertheless, Kim effectively created the impression of this tree as the dominant and perhaps holy presence in “Breath,” thus placing this as the exhibition to be seen prior to its dismantlement.
The remarkable inference about this exhibition is that although there is only one piece that is aesthetically appealing, all of the pieces share a meaning in various, yet connected ways which reaches the viewer on a deeply personal and spiritual level. And while the viewer may encounter this in a similar spiritual experience as a Rothko painting, time spent absorbing these artworks can touch and encourage the viewer, which only supports the artist and his meaning. Admittedly, time spent behind or next to the tree after deriving the blessings from the “reliquaries” preceding the “relic,” is awe-inspiring. Time spent absorbing the spiritual and contextual connotations of this exhibition enthralls the viewer into Kim’s overall goal to replicate the Creatorship of God by giving breath to his artworks and thus giving them life. After contemplating, the viewer most likely will come to the conclusions that there are overlying concepts of purity, exhalation and breath as the important foundations of life, paradigm shifts, the artist as the Creator, and all objects and matter possessing life. The notion that the viewers should connect all of the symbols, themes, and principles of this exhibition and come to a similar conclusion as the artist had intended is not far from the truth. For this, Kim succeeds in creating a thoughtful and engaging exhibit without portraying the Matissian concept that art should be like a comfortable “armchair for tired businessmen.”6
1 http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Hylozoism
2 http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp
4 Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Translated by Annette Lavers. New York: Noonday Press, 1972, pp. 115
5 Benjamin, W. (n.d.). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. In Art in Theory, 1900-1990 (p. 514). Blackwell.
6 http://www.leninimports.com/matisse_biography.html
Hi Casey,
ReplyDeleteI was so happy to find this writing. Thank you so much for taking my exhibition seriously.