Dami Kim: The Stories We Tell Ourselves

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Odds and Ends is pleased to present The Stories We Tell Ourselves, a solo exhibition by Korean- American artist Dami Kim. This marks the gallery’s one year anniversary since opening in 2022, and Kim’s first solo exhibition at Odds and Ends gallery space, following her solo debut at Art Central 2022. Presenting a series of new abstract paintings, The Stories We Tell Ourselves will run from April 27th to June 3rd 2023.

As a continuation from her previous body of work, Kim expands her art historical studies in The Stories We Tell Ourselves, delving deeper into the lingual power of allegorical and narrative paintings. To Kim, art is akin to anthropology, an investigation of what is quintessentially human. And the telling of human stories through art presents a view of the world that transcends the logical, physical and material, allowing her to create an elaborate world of narratives that challenge manufactured chronology and ideologically driven assumptions of artistic purposes.

Whatever their setting or source, stories serve to facilitate the continuation of an individual’s sense of self. They make imagination external, and thus collective in their expression of experiences, cultural concepts and values. Through painting, Kim forms a communication system with viewers in a manner not afforded by language alone, but instead relies on symbolic and self-referential cognition. Deriving inspirations from classical allegorical paintings, Kim’s new paintings respond to our neurological instincts and tell stories that access the world of mythologies hard-wired into our subconscious. The Stories We Tell Ourselves presents works with narrative functions that do no unfold sequentially in time, instead employing formal prompts that encourage viewers to delve into their own experiences and nostalgia in pursuit of their truth, however they see fit.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Los Angeles-born, Korean-American artist Dami Kim has called Hong Kong home since 2015. Inspired by the visual language of both Old Masters paintings and contemporary artists, Kim works in both oil and acrylic media on canvas, paper, and wood. Paintings by Kim are best described as an exploration of recalled memory through visual studies of art history. Dami Kim’s practice is anchored in studies of human culture through art history, mythology and contemporary abstraction, which materialises in paintings that revive and transform archetypes from the unconscious of contemporary culture. Her fascination with Old Masters and fête galante paintings is rooted in their highly symbolic and morally illustrative nature, which are often visualised in dramatised historical or allegorical scenes.