IMMERSED IN BLISS
Esther Kim & Hee J. jo (Guest renters)
August 24 - September 3, 2022
Artists will be present every day.
The Red Head Gallery is pleased to present IMMERSED IN BLISS by guest renters Esther Kim and Hee K. Jo.
The Bliss presents a series of colourful paintings by Esther Kim and Hee J. Jo. Kim and Jo are Korean Canadian artists whose works are bright and vibrant. Each artist depicts bliss in different perceptions through their matters, forms, textures, and colours. Inspired by the mundane, both artists’ works portray their surroundings with a positive point of view. After struggling with the greyness of COVID, Kim and Jo try to find a way to enjoy and appreciate sweet moments in our daily lives.
The exhibition allows viewers to experience comfort, consolation, and hopefulness about the world as we exit the pandemic and our lives begin anew. Kim and Jo’s works deliver a sense of delightfulness found in the most ordinary days, expressing gratitude in the most mundane things.
BIOGRAPHIES
Esther Kim
Esther Kim is a South Korean Canadian raised in Vancouver, currently a Toronto-based artist. She majored in a Bachelor of Fine Arts from OCAD University. Kim received the Best of Painting Award at Toronto Outdoor Art Fair in 2021.
Kim's works scrutinize the idea of gratitude on mundanity, delivering a sense of picturesque happiness—a celebration of a tedious moment. She explores simple, flat forms to encompass expressive, whimsical, calm, and joyous moments with her vibrant and pastel colour palettes. Her art practice is instinctive, schematic, almost childlike, represented by her simplified yet precise forms, shapes, and lines. To the simplification and abstraction in her art-making, Kim adds soft colours to bring a sense of tranquillity and vibrant colours to deliver a sense of energy and power. She shares her genuine gratitude for life and surrenders contemplation and tension, exploring the idea of family, home, and nature. Her works are an outlet of comfort, an undemanding space of serenity.
www.estherdoyeonkim.com
@oncanvas_
Hee J. Jo
Hee J. Jo was born in Seoul, Korea, in 1987 and immigrated to Canada in 2015. As an immigrant, the relationship between her identity and Canadian surroundings is one of the most important subject matters in her art. She aims to express the complex identity as a minority and an Asian female in an interracial marriage. Her paintings are inspired by dreams and memories. Using the subconscious, she tries to navigate the relationship between her Korean identity and Canadian surroundings.
Automatism is the main technique that Jo follows. Not knowing the outcome is a key to make her process more fun and enjoyable. This positive attitude toward the uncertainty is revealed in her works. Her goal is to compose each of the elements in harmony. She believes in the beauty of imperfection. She enjoys the process of looking for the best harmony among absurdities.
