Since 2019, Korean artist and designer Kim HyunJoo’s continuously growing “Landscape” series is characterized by a harmonious sequence of sculptures made of carved stone. HyunJoo’s works combine millennia-old traditions of Oriental ink painting with modern artistic techniques to create a new kind of landscape art.
The combination of art, design, and craft not only characterizes the artist’s sculptures; it is also an expression of her design philosophy. High-quality materials meet skilled craftsmanship and combine to create objects that bear witness to the beauty of nature. In this way, the artist eliminates artificially created boundaries between design and craft. Especially stone and Hanji, the traditional Korean paper, find an intensive use in her work.
HyunJoo strives to create a contemporary harmony in all her creations. Her major theme is “Plus Nature” – the pursuit of a balance of opposites. In this, she starts from the assumption that true art lies in balance: Nature meets the city, art meets craft; Korean tradition is confronted with modern life. In this way, Kim HyunJoo combines seemingly incompatible things and achieves her goal, which results in the perfect balance: the “Plus Nature”.
Although she lives in “the now”, her values are timeless: the quality of the material and the quality of the idea are just as important to her as respect for nature and life. This respect is also manifested in her commitment to sustainability. Thus, all of her productions are designed to bring nature and artistic activity into harmony.
With her “Landscape” series, Kim HyunJoo succeeds in creating an inspiring new interpretation of landscape art. She thus expands the history of this art form and creates stone sculptures that radiate a meditative calm and timeless aesthetics.
Working with various types of stone, I have sought to extend the story of landscape art that was embodied by black and white-centered oriental landscape painting.
