Homophone
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9/ 4 – 10/15, 2024
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Paris Koh Fine Arts
201 Bridge Plaza North, Suite 1, Fort Lee, NJ 07024
pariskohfinearts.com ​
by Mary Hrbacek
The exhibition entitled “Homophone” curated by Suechung Paris Koh, Sooa Lim, and Jeanne Brasile includes Pam Cooper, Kyung Han Kim, Jin Mateo Kim, Minah Park, Gianluca Bianchino, and Sophia Chizuco. “Homophone” refers to words that sound the same but have contrasting meanings. The visual art on view is premised on literary interpretations of contrasting concepts, but despite the intentions pertinent to words, the works on view transcend verbal objectives; they are all visually striking and compelling. Three curators have each chosen two artists to articulate in their work aspects of “homophones” words, in English, Chinese and Korean.
Left: Pam Cooper, My Domain 1 -13 (Houses), Handmade abaca paper, copy transfer of drawings rusty pins, Colored pencil on My Domains Right: Kyunghan Kim, The Drawing, Sept. 10, 2012 NY Times, hand stitching thread on canvas, 2012~2013, 74x74x2 in. â“’ Paris Koh Fine Arts
Suechung Paris Koh chose Pam Cooper to express visually the term and meaning of “Back, and of “White.” Her subtle depiction mirrors the experience of viewing the interior of a children’s doll house created in a structure of handmade paper that may be a building a city block long which contains views of human dramas taking place inside interiors that can be seen within many windows. Kyung Han Kim’s large scale pure white unstretched canvas, adorned with lines of sewn thread that replicates drawn lines on a page; the steady lines imply a sense of focus and self-perception that is required when an individual must fit into a new, not especially welcoming culture.
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Left: Jin Mateo Kim, Cognize and Execute, 2024, Steel wire, linen thread, Dimensions variable / Your Love Is Enough, 2023, Gouache and colored pencils on mulberry paper, 21 x 21x 1.5 in. Right: Minah Park, Component Mound II, Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable â“’ Paris Koh Fine Arts
Sooa Lim chose the terms “Virtue” and “Wire” for the transformation. Jin Mateo Kim’s faintly painted images set on strong unstretched paper capture snarling open mouths filled with sharp white teeth that express the energy of both fury and sensuality in an exploration of negative feelings often suppressed for society’s sake. Minah Park’s complex metal wall work composed of screen, wire and thin metal tubes relates to the wall with deep mysterious cast shadows. The rigorous attention to the details of individual segments of wire and metal suggest machine circuits or internal bodily connections.
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Left: Sophia Chizuco, from left Bubbles, Spectrum, Green on Green, 2024 , Acrylic on canvas, 24x24 in.​ Right: Gianluca Bianchino, Sunset Dreaming, 2024, Tempera, gouache, acrylic on wood, 17x17 in / Hyperspace 1, 2, 2024, Tempera, gouache, acrylic on wood, 14x12 in ⓒ Paris Koh Fine Arts
Jeanne Brasile’s idea of “Peace” and “Piece” is activated visually, as Gianluca Bianchino succeeds in articulating with shapes the helter-skelter movement that characterizes the chaos of an earthquake. As the edges of his colorful square formats vie against one another in the off-center diamond wall placements, one feels a visceral response that earthquakes are known to generate. Sophia Chizuco’s colorful proliferation of small circles radiates their symbolic sense of the Zen notion of Enso, “the revelation of a world of the spirit without beginning and end.”
They project the harmony and continuity of life, green bio-forms, blue water, fire and passion, to name but a few!
Mary Hrbacek
Mary Hrbacek is an artist who has been writing about art in New York City since the late 1990s. She has had more than one hundred reviews published in The M Magazine/The New York Art World, and has written in print and on-line NY Artbeat.com, Artes Magazine, d’Art International, Culture Catch.com and Whitehot Magazine. Her commentary spans a broad spectrum, from the contemporary cutting-edge to the Old Masters.
Chief Editor: Paris Koh