06 June 2024 – 20 July 2024
Exhibition extended until September 12, 2024

Opening reception: Wednesday, June 5, 6–8:30pm

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16, rue Cécile Bieler-Butticaz, 1207 Geneva, Switzerland ↗

Sébastien Bertrand is pleased to present Glance and Ways of Seeing, two solo shows that introduce Sang Woo Kim’s (Seoul, 1994) work for the first time at the gallery.

I believe that artists should have a dialogue between their life experiences and what they choose to present as their art. Through my art, I seek to delve deeper into my own being, thereby gaining a greater understanding of the world around me. All my work stems from my life story and social experiences, and from the ‘otherness’ imposed upon me while growing up under the Western gaze in a world marked by discrimination and prejudice. It’s an exploration of my essence, autonomy, and identity.  

Glance delves into the relationship between image and physicality, identity and existence. These forward-facing self-portraits, ‘looking outwards’, aim to provoke or protest. They help me confront myself physically, dwelling on the insecurities developed through my experience of discrimination and racism based on the way I looked. They are also a reclamation of my image and identity, something I still have no agency over due to my occupation as a model.

I believe in the notion that the artist is the art, and the artworks are the by-product of the artist. It’s about how and why: how the artist translates, and why they present their art. I don’t necessarily believe in medium as a vessel for the artist; I believe the artist is the medium.^ 

This show leans towards portraiture in a traditional sense. Portraits were meant to convey status and power, but they also represent beauty. Using this traditional context and flipping it on its head by painting my Asian features is provoking. It’s a sort of protest. It’s almost awkward, as historically portraits of Asians were rarely painted in this Western style – which I believe is due to the lack of representation and diversity in the Western art world. The self-portrait paintings are somewhat provocative – they are ‘in your face’ to the viewer. The juxtaposition this carries is visceral in facing myself as well; I become my own viewer. I focus on my eyes – the very feature that has been the locus of discrimination – which allows me to own, overcome, and, in turn, celebrate and reclaim. Glance serves as a direct challenge to the viewer; the titles speak to them, provokes them. This show portrays the journey of self-discovery, empowerment, and assertion, and is an invitation to confront the complexities of identity, perception, prejudice, and representation in our society.

I don’t consciously think I’m making a change or that this is my way of proving diversity. First and foremost, my work is meant to help me navigate the world. Then, through my lens and experience, perhaps people like me will be able to relate and others, to be able to realise. My artistic practice embodies a delicate balance of inclusion and exclusion, reflecting the complex interplay of identity in a society shaped by systemic biases. Understanding the pervasive influence of systemic racism was a gradual process for me, particularly its pressures on minorities to assimilate. Third culture kids are almost a separate entity in themselves. The longing for a sense of belonging is so real – the duality that stems from feeling ‘other’ is very difficult to explain without experiencing it. Growing up in the UK, this dynamic was so ingrained in the fabric of society that I hardly noticed it, nor did my parents who immigrated in their thirties. I lived a life in which I would be put in a box and treated other unless I conformed and assimilated. Even today, this comes to haunt me in ways I can only try and resolve through my work.

I used to reject modeling for various reasons rooted in my struggles with image and identity politics. The discrimination I’ve faced throughout my life never allowed me to truly confront myself. The self-portraits entail a vulnerability that is very real, and therefore mean that I can take agency over my image and identity, which is something I never had. Through the act of painting with my own hands, I represent myself the way I want to be seen – not glorified, but matter of fact. Confronting myself in an honest approach is immensely liberating. It allows me to reclaim control, which is something that ultimately makes me proud of who I am. It makes me feel more me, and I believe that’s what making art should make one feel. Self-discovery and understanding stem from vulnerability. It means being brave and unapologetic, being yourself, and just be. Posing these questions within Glance is to represent that we are all one in our shared humanity, but also in the universal experience of feeling isolated in one’s identity. The ’self’, ‘me’, ‘I’ are universal words used by everyone. These self-portraits are a mirror; one should reflect on themselves when seeing them.

We are different people every day, constantly changing and adapting – I feel this reflects in the way I paint. Different energy and emotions carried in different days of my life and being. That’s why all the works feel and are different, varying in style and scale. They are glimpses of myself, not revealing the whole – just yet… As I become more of myself – the artist – the more I intend to reveal of my face, body, autonomy. The consistency, however, still lives in my image. Conceptually speaking, there’s an irony - one can only recognise my work through the physical subject rather than the style of my painting.

Ultimately, it boils down to being present. I rarely concern myself with others’ perception of me, nor do I fully trust my own self-perception. This may sound paradoxical given the forward-facing nature of my practice, my life, and my occupation, but the only way I can achieve this is by maintaining a state of presence. This is precisely why I’ve turned to self-portraiture with Glance. After years of grappling with embarrassment over my image I had no control over growing up, then being reduced to a mere physical entity by society’s gaze, and being haunted by countless misrepresentative images of me, I realised the necessity of reclaiming agency over my own image, my identity, and myself. All these experiences have helped me understand myself better, but ultimately, they have made me more present – the only state where I believe you truly understand yourself.

 – Sang Woo Kim, 2024 

How can I create a photo that can be or is a painting? Or at least what seems like a painting? This then leads to my curiosity about what defines a painting. Does it purely come down to the process? These one-off transfers are unique and can never be replicated again; in a similar way to how a monotype print works. If people can paint like photographs, I want to create photographs like paintings.”

– Sang Woo Kim

Ways of Seeing, showcased in the gallery’s second space, unveils a collection of pigment dye transfers on canvas, offering a glimpse into the artist's exploration of 'otherness.' Through the pigment transfers Sang Woo Kim establishes a conceptual relationship with reality. The images tell the artist’s own history, yet they are also the expression of a rigorous ethical and aesthetic position in relation to the external world. 

Working with media that range from painting to installation, Kim developed the technique behind these works over many years of trial and error, carried by intuition and experimentation. The manual process blends painting and photography through a new media technique. Depending on the desired tactile and visual effects, this can achieve a painterly impression or something more akin to newsprint. Finally, he manipulates the image, using his fingers, brushes, or sponges, until it turns into the painting the artist had envisioned. Imbued with melancholy, these works reveal the artist’s mood, faithfully evoking it yet abandoning its straightforward representation.

Kim was inspired by Robert Rauschenberg’s ‘painterly prints’ from the 1960s, which incorporated images cut from magazines and newspapers. Rauschenberg's innovative techniques and collaborations with skilled printers revolutionised traditional printmaking, employing digital imaging and unconventional materials like cardboard, cloth, and plastic.

The unrestricted approach of Rauschenberg is also reflected in the source material of Kim’s gaze-images: obscure Reddit feeds, iPhone zooms, cropped images from stills, segments of bigger images, movies, documentaries, magazines. The found images are then re-appropriated, cropped and manipulated by the artist. Observing these portraits, a sort of mirror play is activated between reality and the artist’s reinterpretation of it. Like a glitch, Kim’s pigment transfers encourage the viewer to question the very nature of the images they are experiencing.

In Ways of Seeing, the artist reveals his preoccupations to the observer. The close cropped format of the paintings often evoke an uncomfortable intimacy and emphasise the sensitivity of their subject matter. Eyes pulled open or juxtaposed with medical apparatus encourage a feeling of examination and vulnerability, the opacity of some others seemingly resisting external interpretation. The infinite array of images perhaps reflects today’s world increasingly bombarded by disconnected, unrelenting visual stimuli. Sometimes nightmarish, sometimes dreamlike, the images remind us of the existential importance of vision whilst also exposing the vulnerability of our senses to external manipulation.

Kim’s found gazes explore the world: the eyes depicted in the transfers look towards a near, faraway, or indefinite place. In those eyes, the observer seeks to single out traces that might announce unknown destinies or trace back traumas lived in the darkness of personal histories. Within the infinite array of gazes and their interconnected relational potentials, lies perhaps the chance for countless encounters, which are there for us to look at. 

Written by Marco Galvan

“I have managed to create photographs that are paintings. (…) My pigment dye transfers are manipulated and painted post-production; they can never be reproduced the same ever again. They are one-off, unique; I believe they are paintings.”

– Sang Woo Kim