Muted philosophies

a solo show

room 412 — birmingham, Alabama
december 9, 2023 - january 14, 2024

Muted Philosophies is a comprehensive exploration into a five-year obsession with the form of the European hare, Lepus Europaeus. It is also my first well-seeded exploration into sacred geometry, especially the derivative forms of the circle. Throughout the show, both of these forms are investigated either singly or as a duality.

In my work, there has always been a scientific focal point to my interest in Nature as the primary subject. This scientific interest has fueled my devotion to watercolor as the primary medium of my work–an homage to the early illustrations that 18th century naturalists created. Beyond the scientific aspect, however, a deeply spiritual interest has manifested itself. This is represented not only in the addition of gold leaf and geometric forms that would have never been seen in traditional animal illustration, but also in the twist and warp of the environment the subjects exist in. The hare has come to be a synthesis of explorations into my personal narratives, of my subconscious, of the emotional landscapes that bridge my personal self with a universal idea of self. The hare has grown to be a very vulnerable and intimate subject for me. The beauty of the hare, and likely why it spoke to me significantly in the first place, is that it is a world symbol that has evoked a strong sense of mysticism and otherworldliness in our societies for hundreds of years, fueling countless myths and legends. These paintings bridge these ideas of a rigorous scientific form while honoring and investigating the hare as Symbol.

Muted Philosophies also expands the concept of Nature-as-subject. In the dichotomous landscape of the 21st century, the pristine forms of geometry are often not immediately recognizable as natural forms. In the modern lens, these forms are not synonymous with rolling hills, a riparian ecosystem, spring meadows, and the animals that traverse these spaces. Geometric forms, however, have long played a valuable role in spiritual and mystical practice as they speak to a unified and abstract form of nature. The works in this exhibition seek to relate natural forms, as we immediately recognize them, with these abstract forms that were once harmoniously integrated in our view of the natural world.

Installation Images

All photographs courtesy of Yoon Kim unless otherwise noted.