Eunice Kim

Path (120) #1 [detail], reclaimed wood monoprint, hand-cut paper & collage, 31 x 48 inches, 2020.

“Central to my work, and life in general really, is search for clarity and a limited color palette is ideal for this undertaking.”

Eunice Kim is an artist living and working in the beautiful Cascade Mountain foothills of rural Seattle, Washington (USA). Her approach to color is monochromatic and her approach to printmaking is rigorously minimalist. Eunice's newest "Nature Stories" series finds material and inspiration in reclaimed wood.

Printing from actual specimens, she finds and coaxes out narratives from weathered grains, knots, cracks, and imperfections in the wood -- a process best described as 'meditation on seeing.' Her work is conceived on the premise that all of nature may be found in a single example of its expression and serves as subtext facilitating inquiry into emotional and psychological landscapes.

How does the printmaking process itself relate to how you work with color?

My new "Nature Stories" series sets out to celebrate innate and intrinsic beauty of salvaged timber. With printmaking, I can coax out and faithfully capture the most subtle nuances, characteristics, and tactility inherent in the wood.

Intense black and its range of rich values, in particular, works splendidly towards this goal. It strips the imagery down to its essence and brings attention to autonomy of form, structure, and composition--all of which becomes a lot more apparent and clear in black and white. It's everything essential to tell the story and nothing that is not.

Absence of color also necessitates that the other visual components be absolutely on point to create interest and tension. There are no distractions, and nothing is lost or hidden. It's a bit demanding, but it aligns with a certain desire on my part to transcend the prosaic through rigorous process and pathways.

Currents & Tides (100) #1, reclaimed wood monoprint, hand-cut paper & collage, 30 x 38 inches, 2020.

Currents & Tides (100) #1 [detail] , reclaimed wood monoprint, hand-cut paper & collage, 30 x 38 inches, 2020.

What cultural aspects of color are built into your work? 

I think this affinity for simplicity was instilled and ingrained in me at an early age. Growing up in South Korea, my physical environment largely comprised a monochromatic palette.

From traditional lacquer cabinets that furnished grandmother's room, to mother's ink wash paintings, and "Go" game playing stones which I was wholly engrossed with, I quite literally 'lived' in black and white. It no doubt had a huge bearing in cultivating a penchant for sparse and restrained aesthetic and sensibility. And I, in fact, continue to be deeply informed by my immediate surroundings.

For instance, one of the things I love about winters here in Cascade Mountain foothills is when it snows, the entire landscape turns black and white. Needless to say, it makes me incredibly happy. I find that this proximity to the natural world facilitates my work in wonderful and profound ways.

How does color represent or support the mind space of your work?

Central to my work, and life in general really, is search for clarity and a limited color palette is ideal for this undertaking. If we were to talk music, black and white to me is an instrumental solo (e.g., piano or guitar), as opposed to polychromatic's band or orchestra. It's the exploration and pure expression of that particular vehicle.

I like to say that "Nature Stories" is a response and counterpoint to information overload of today's 'faster-more-now' reality. I'm keen on producing work that offers viewers an alternative visual experience and encourages them to slow down and see mindfully the beauty that is all around us. I hope for this minimalist strategy--found somewhere between abstraction and realism, to invite reflection and mindful engagement. Colors, invariably, create associations and my intent is to arrive at something more universal in nature.

“Intense black and its range of rich values...[provides] everything essential to tell the story and nothing that is not.”

Path (120) #1, reclaimed wood monoprint, hand-cut paper & collage, 31 x 48 inches, 2020.

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