Mirena Kim
Mirena Kim is a visual artist living and working in Los Angeles. She moves freely between mediums including ceramics, found objects, oil on canvas, and paper pulp. She can be found most days in her Mid City studio, creating visual problems to solve.
Exhibitions:
Upcoming: MOCKINGBIRD at Malvoyante, Echo Park opens October 2024
Upcoming: Second Nature, The Delta, Brooklyn, NY, opens October 2024
BAM Art at Room, Greenwich CT, opens June 14, 2024
Circular Ritual at BG Gallery. Opened May 2024
Pulped: Residency and Open Studio at 5613 San Vicente Opened May 2024
10 YEARS:PROXY at The Floating Gallery. Opened August 2023
POTPOURRI at Tyler Park Presents. Opened May 2023
ARIES RISING / NORTH NODE at Irvine Fine Arts Center. Opened March 2023
A MOST ENGAGING CLUTCH at The Floating Gallery. Opened Jan 2023
SHRUBS at Night Gallery. Opened February 2021
View my thesis exhibition:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsRkGlRuaSR7Hms0xnKAVkw
PRESS RELEASE
MOCKINGBIRD by Mirena Kim
OPENS OCTOBER 19, 2024
MOCKINGBIRD envisions a world where nature is reimagined, approximated and recreated with what is considered “garbage.” The branching forms, while not a scientifically accurate depiction of any one species, contain enough clues for the viewer to locate memories and dreams of a nature that has slowly receded from our daily lives. The birdsongs are recorded and blended, literally echoing the brave attempt to remember and recreate this lost nature. The mockingbird’s song was chosen because of the species' uncanny ability to reproduce even urban sounds.
Mirena Kim began working with paper during a bout of Covid that compounded physical vulnerability with a material one. Disrupted supply chains highlighted the realization that, like our food, many art supplies have no one provenance, but are a mix of many. For example, the moist boxed clays we use can contain materials from several continents. Kim's thirty-odd year ceramic practice was disrupted -- not just in terms of sourcing, but also in meaning.
Collecting, shredding, wetting and grinding discarded paper into pulp has become a community activity for Kim. Friends joyfully donate their recyclable paper with the knowledge that they are participating in art-making. An added benefit is that no firing is required. The disquieting heat of the Los Angeles climate (Kim's home), is used to dry and cure the paper works, again transforming environmental anxiety into creative process.
The forms measure roughly 7 feet in height and can be experienced in several ways: through touch, by finding areas of smoothness and roughness; aurally, as the pieces move and produce rhythmic knocking sounds; and visually as the traces of different hues of paper and wood shavings are integrated throughout the piece.
MOCKINGBIRD is the latest in Kim's exploration of paper pulp. She is also the creator of PULPED: RESIDENCY, an ultra-local and no-cost artist residency at her studio in mid-city Los Angeles.
Opens October 19, 2024
MOCKINGBIRD by Mirena Kim, 2024
Approximately 10' x 8' by 7'H
Paper, wood shavings, rice starch glue, powdered clay, zinc oxide, polyurethane coating
Recorded sound, touchable and interactive.
Press Contact: Mirena Kim info@mirenakim.com
Website: mirenakim.com Instagram: @mirena_kim Threads @mirena_kim
Gallery: MALVOYANTE, Los Angeles contact Michelle Plochere
michelle@plochere.com Instagram: @malvoyante, web: malvoyante.com
ABOUT MALVOYANTE
MALVOYANTE is an anti-ablist gallery founded by a visually impaired curator that is focused on showing artists whose work engages ideas around perception and misperception of space, movement, time, and reality itself. We privilege investigative and creative curiosity, foregrounding problems over solutions, opacity over the strictly retina, and community over solitude.