이상원
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KIM HEE JOO
Education
2018 Kookmin University Graduate School of Metal Crafts, Ph.D. Completed
2011 Graduate School of Metal Crafts, Kookmin University
2008 Mathematics for the Exchange Semester at Portzheim, Germany
2007 Graduate of the Department of Metal and Crafts at Kookmin University, College of Plastic
Solo
2020 UniverseShell, Choice Art Company, Seoul
The 5th season of 2011 Fifth Season, Space Duru Special Exhibition, Seoul
Group
2021 Earrings – Through the Past and the Present, Seoul Craft Museum Opening Special Exhibition, Seoul
Blue – Uncertain Spring, Gallery Baum 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Gallery Baum, Paju
2020 Beyond Wearable, Yun Gee Park Gallery, Tucson, USA
100 Brochures_Korea's Modern Long-Term Chronicles, Suae 33o 339, Seoul
2019 HAN MADE, NYC Jewelry Week, New York, USA
Sarangbang, Galerie Noel Guyomarc'h, Montreal, Canada
The Color Exhibition, Platina, Stockholm Sweden
A Contemporary Jewellery Odyssey, Itami Craft Museum, Itami Japan
21 gram, Galerie Handwerk, Munich Germany
2018 21 gram - Hangzhou International Craft Triennial Exhibition, Crafts Museum of China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
Saga Bowel, Lee Yoojin Gallery, Seoul
A Commemorative Jewellery Odyssey, Unexpected Combination, Seoul
炙- International Contemporary Enamel Exhibition, , Taiwan, Taipei
A Contemporary Jewellery Odyssey, Munich Jewelry Week, French Cultural Center, Munich, Germany
My Munich, Galerie Biré, Munich Handicraft Fair, Munich, Germany
Schmuck, Munich Handicraft Fair Special Exhibition, Munich, Germany
2017 Pérégrines Autour Du Bijoux Contemporary, Bettina Galerie, Paris, France
Garbage × User Manual, National Folk Museum of Korea Special Exhibition, Seoul
It’s a Pleasure to Meet You! A New Look at East Asian Art and Crafts, Gallery Baum, Heyri
Etc.
Awards
2014 Finalists, AJF Artist Award, Art Jewelry Forum, United States
The 14th Iksan Korean Crafts Festival, Korea Crafts and Culture Association
2012 Bonsang, INHORGENTA AWARD, MUNICH, GERMAN
2011 Main Award, MARZEE GRADUATE PRIZE 2011, Galerie Marzee, NAMEHEN, Netherlands
2011 Best Award, PREZIOSA YOUNG 2011, Le Arti Orafe Jewellery School & Academy, Florence, Italy
2010 Best 10, New Traditional Jewellery-TRUE COLORS, EMB&B, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Universal + Shell
UniverShell is a combination of Universal and Shell. A structure of the electroformed shell has a dual meaning of protection and camouflage. It is combined with a concept of universal phenomena such as the growth of pearl, coral, and tree rings, thereby UniverShell is an aggregation of piled metal layers, the time it takes, and poetic imagination.
The growth that occurs in nature is a process in which invisible things are piled up to make it hard and strong. My work captures the process of how pearls and corals form in the blue ocean.
Electroforming, a modern technique designed to replicate or protect the surface of metals like plating, performs the process of pearl formation made up of accumulated particles. Electrolyzed metal particles in a blue sulfuric acid solution repeatedly accumulate, thereby form a new shell. Running on electricity but very analogue, electroforming requires time and craftsmanship as if taking care of life.
I soak each new life born in my hands in a solution and take care of them carefully until their layer is fully grown and becomes a solid shell. The layer is no longer used for plating or duplicating something else but turns into a concrete form that breathes by itself. The rich and mysterious layers of color, which make it more solid, not only please our visual and tactile sensation but also make it exuberant.
A small world created by electrolytic particles is built up little by little in blue water in a small tank. As if lifting a precious pearl out of the ocean, I lift up my little world and draw beautiful fruition that will be formed slowly and strongly somewhere in a deep sea, somewhere in a deep forest.