Yongjoo Kim

Artist

“What does it mean to survive under pressure and weight?”

For me, making art is a way of exploring this simple yet complex question.

I focus primarily on a single material of choice: hook and loop fasteners. I shape them with my bare hands along with basic hand tools such as a pair of scissors to cut, roll, bend, stack, and sew them. The choice to create jewelry out of an inexpensive material often considered unattractive and mundane was inspired by two reasons. On one hand, it was to survive the weight of financial burden by keeping material and fabrication costs down. On the other, it was to challenge my ability to survive in a field known for its social pressure to use attractive and precious materials.

In the creative process, artists often get stuck. When we do, we get bogged down by a variety of weight and pressure, which makes us feel as if there is a finite limit to our ability to create. This then threatens our vitality as artists. To survive the creative process is to restore vitality in such situations without giving up. To do this, we must be able to embrace and appropriately negotiate with a variety of weight and pressure. What’s pleasantly surprising about this is that when we do, we often end up with art that defies our imagination. Art that provides us with experiences of sublime, inspiration, and beauty, which helps us realize that there still exists infinite possibilities. I wish to share these experiences with those who witness or wear my work.

Education

2009 MFA in Jewelry & Metals, Rhode Island School of Design, RI, USA

2004 BFA in Arts and Crafts, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea

Major Permanent Collections

2020 Seoul Museum of Craft Art Seoul, South Korea

2018 Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LA, CA, U.S.A.

2017 Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

2016 Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London, U.K.

2012 Velcro U.S.A. Inc, Manchester, NH, U.S.A.

2010 Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), New York, NY, U.S.A.

Selected Awards

2021 Honorable Mention,11th Cheongju International Craft Competition, South Korea