Ro2 Art is proud to present land·scape, a solo exhibition featuring new works by artist Bumin Kim. The show will run from May 5 through June 2, 2018. There will be an opening reception held Saturday, May 5, from 7-10pm at Ro2 Art located at 1501 S. Ervay Street in Dallas’ Cedars neighborhood.

Known for her mesmerizing thread paintings, Bumin Kim pushes the boundaries of what defines a painting. Her work is especially inspired by elements found in nature, often extracting and simplifying landscapes and organic forms into geometric color fields. She breathes new life into the surface of her paintings, shifting the energy of each piece to exude an unexpected yet irresistible presence.

Originally from Korea, Bumin Kim received her MFA in painting and drawing in 2015 from the University of North Texas in Denton and remains in North Texas as an active member of the contemporary art community. Kim recently received a top award in the Materials:Hard+Soft International Competition and Exhibition, juried by JoAnn Edwards at the Patterson-Appleton Arts Center in Denton. In addition to numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Texas, she has been featured at the Dallas Art Fair and Art Aspen. Her work is included in both public and private collections in Texas and throughout the United States. Bumin lives and works in Dallas, Texas, and is represented by Ro2 Art.

This body of work is a showcase of questions; an approach towards the idea of drawing in the expanded field. Kim explores the nature of line, and the potential held therein, to push the boundaries between the two-dimensional surface and three-dimensional space. Thread and string are synonymous with the actions of weaving and stitching, both for utilitarian purposes, and to serve as metaphor, for the joining of two separate entities with efforts to repair what once was, or with the intent of becoming something other, whole and new.

The transformative power of materiality is at play in these works, and Kim has repurposed the context of thread and string, to emphasize the energy, delicacy, and grace of drawing. Both the weight of line as thin and singular, and the collection of lines en masse as solid form, are sensitive tools found in Kim's repertoire; these are tools which have been exercised with skillful intent to build interesting forms, reminiscent of exacerbated versions of value studies, gesture drawings, or economical sketches one might find in the foundations of drawing. But that would be too reductive to let them exist still tethered to such a basic, albeit important set of concepts.

These works shift, undulate and pulse into our space, promulgating themselves as entities emancipated from the confines of flatland, and now poised, vibrating, just above the surface. Drawing has been personified, and is no longer limited to the index of the hand, or the illusion of the flat surface. It is an echo of a once sorrowful song, whose voice is present, tender, and alive.

(Bumin Kim)