Shin il Kim — Decoded Love at Smack Mellon and other shows

Shin il Kim — Decoded Love

at Smack Mellon
92 Plymouth Street
Brooklyn, New York 11201
five DVDs, five 14” TV monitors, speakers, wooden structured dark room dimensions variable

Decoded Love is based on the silent film, "The Toll of the Sea," the first color feature film made in Hollywood in 1922. This perplexing story of unrequited love, similar to Puccini's "Madame Butterfly,” stages a power struggle between the dominant male and obedient female character. The love story not only represents the complications of society's subtle yet oppressive gender roles but also the contradiction of defending peace with war.

Interpreting and visually deconstructing the film, Shin Il Kim reveals the actual material of the movie; the indirect light from the playing film is his main and distinctive medium. In the darkened room of the installation, a pattern of lights emanate from a circular channel in the floor that is more than 8 feet in diameter. Viewers walk over and around the circular glow of the shimmering lights as the film’s original score plays softly in the background.

While maintaining the film's sequence, the scenes of each character have been separated onto their own DVDs. Under the floor of the installation, five TV monitors play each character's DVD illuminating the cut out circular channel. Decoded Love strips the narrative from the film's love story in an attempt to reveal the true essence of the word love. The love story is visualized only as light, which is symbolic in many religions of purity, truth, goodness and life.

Kim is a native of Seoul, South Korea and now currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He received his BFA from Seoul National University and his MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY. Selected solo shows include: Galeria do Lago at the Museu de Republica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; The Riccardo Crespi Gallery, Milan, Italy; Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany; and ARCO Art Center-Arts Council Korea, Seoul, Korea. Selected group shows include: Today Art Museum, Beijing, China; Singapore Biennale (2006), Singapore; Analog Animation at The Drawing Center, New York, NY and Macy Gallery at Columbia University, New York, NY. He has been awarded fellowships and grants from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; The Pollack Krasner Foundation; Jerome Foundation; Smack Mellon; and Skowhegan Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. His work is represented in the collections of the Queens Museum of Art; Queens, NY; ALTOIDS Curiously Strong Collection at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY; and Arts Council Korea. This year of 2008, he participates in Media City Seoul 2008, international media biennale, Hermes prize show in Seoul, and the third edition of the International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Seville in Spain.

Please find more info at www.smackmellon.org

Shin il Kim also at:

Hermes Foundation Misulsang, Atlier Hermes, Seoul, Korea
August 29-November 09

The 5th Seoul International Media Art Biennale, Seoul, Korea
September 12, 2008-November 5, 2008
http://www.mediacityseoul.or.kr/

The 3rd Seville International Biennale, Seville, Spain
October02 2008-January 09 2009
http://www.fundacionbiacs.com

Daejeon City Museum of Art, Korea
October 07 2008-November 30 2008
http://dmma.metro.daejeon.kr

the 5th Sustainable Art Project, Tokyo, Japan
October 18-November 8 2008 in Ueno area, Tokyo