arranging space

work by young kim

Young Kim, born 1955 in lncheon, Korea:  B.A., Art, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, 1986;  M.F.A photography, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland California, 1992;  Seminar, American Photography Institute, New York University, New York, New York, 1992. 

Her work has been exhibited at numerous venues including Queens Museum of Art in Queens, New York;  Ansel Adams Center in San Francisco, California;  Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California;  Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, California;   Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, California;   Institute of Contemporary Art San José, in San José, California;  Dorsky Gallery in Long Island City, New York and  Chandra Cerrito Contemporary in Oakland, California among others.

She was a recipient of the Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant,  Fleishhacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship for Visual Artists,  Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation Grant,  National Endowment for the Arts and Ford Foundation Fellowships.

In 2004 Young Kim was diagnosed with Early Onset Parkinson's Disease.  The arc of her art making proceeded on its evolutionary trace until her declining health made it physically impossible to continue.  In 2010 she organized her artwork in a self-published book titled  "arranging space"  that visually chronicled her life's artistic journey. She died at home in Cleveland, Ohio in 2023.

Untitled (map)1998, a series of 24 photograms, 32 in. x 40 in. each, overall dimensions 8 ft. x 27 ft. Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA, 2000

"In "Untitled (map)," a series of 24 photograms, borders that divide and define all the nations in the world are transformed into fractured outlines, creating a landscape of dispersed fragments. Taken out of the geographical context, with the sizes enlarged and reduced to similar scale, it is apparent that most nations become unrecognizable and the resemblance between the countries as a whole is emphasized. This process allows a reflection on the space of migration and borderlessness, and mirrors how we conceptualize our relationship to the world."  -yk

“Utilizing photography's power to present an object subjectively as well as to convey subject in a more "objective" manner than in other artistic media, Korean-American artist Young Kim explores the broad issue of cultural definition with an intensely personal approach. The result is not only a brave intimate perspective on the universal quest for identity, but also a lucid reflection on the ever evolving concept of "home" in both the larger societal and individual arenas.  Her projects include such diverse photographic elements as instant Polaroids and illuminated light boxes, as well as familiar objects such as tables, benches, and soup bowls, incorporated within elegant installations-visually accessible means used to help us explore the general ideas of lineage and history as each of us struggles to locate and to identify ourselves as individuals. It is a life's quest on which all of us embark, a psychic journey that transcends location, language, and ethnicity.”

-Reena Jana,   “The Displaced Self”, Asian Art News, January-February,  2000.

Blossoms 5, 2008 pigment inks on 100% rag paper 30” x 24”.