YOOL KIM “THE PLACE MEMORY KEEPS” SOLO EXHIBITION...RUNS UNTIL OCT 10th...
ARTISTS
EXHIBITIONS
PURCHASE ART
GALLERY MERCH
INSTA
CONTACT ︎
Described by Ken Johnson of The New York Times as having a “Red Groomsian comic verve,” Chan captures the humor, chaos, absurdity, and fleeting moments of contemporary urban life. Through drawing and mixed media, everyday characters, objects, and encounters become part of an ever-changing city theatre.
Transient City opens October 17th, at Court Tree Collective.
Opening reception Oct 17th, 5 - 7pmn!
Kim's paintings are driven by a continual pursuit of images that resonate on a deeply human level. Her figures and landscapes exist between reality and recollection, inviting viewers into intimate moments that feel both familiar and otherworldly. Each composition is imbued with a sense of stillness and emotional depth, revealing a painter committed to creating works that speak as much to the soul as they do to the eye.
While rooted in the timeless traditions of painting, Kim's practice embraces a distinctly contemporary sensibility. She balances classical aesthetics with modern techniques, creating luminous surfaces and nuanced compositions that feel both enduring and unmistakably of the present. In The Place Memory Keeps, she continues to refine this visual language, offering a collection of paintings that linger long after they are seen works that remind us how memory shapes not only the places we have been, but the people we become.
An exhibition centered on collective consciousness and the romanticized mythology of the automobile. It’s almost too easy to reach for the familiar emotions tied to a first car ride; freedom, romance, the anticipation of a first kiss, the promise of new beginnings. We think of late-night drives, cruising with friends, discovering new destinations, quiet moments of family bonding, long stretches of road accompanied by ball games on the radio or the soundtrack of a favorite song. These memories feel universal, as if they belong not just to individuals, but to a shared cultural archive.
Originally conceived as a practical invention simply a means of getting from point A to point B, the automobile quickly transcended its utility. It became a space of reflection, escape, and projection. The act of driving, of sitting behind the wheel while in motion, offers a paradoxical blend of control and release. Over time, this experience has embedded itself deeply into our collective memory, shaping how we understand movement, independence, and even identity.
Within the art world, the car appears with striking frequency. It often takes on simplified, almost naive forms, boxy, reductive, symbolic, yet when seen together, these representations create a kind of visual harmony. The repetition of the automobile across artists and practices speaks to its enduring presence as both object and idea.
This exhibition explores the car not merely as a physical form, but as a vehicle for escapism. It examines how the automobile continues to surface in contemporary work as a conduit for nostalgia, longing, and imagined freedom, an enduring symbol of where we’ve been, and where we believe we might still go.