Opening Reception - Bumin Kim: Coalescence / Nicole Havekost: Felt Sense

Where: Ro2 Art | The Cedars

1501 S Ervay St. Dallas, TX 75215

When: October 24 - November 21, 2020

Opening Reception: Saturday October24, 12-6 PM

Ro2 Art is proud to present Coalescence by Bumin Kim, and Felt Sense by Nicole Havekost. These solo shows will run from October 24 through November 21, 2020. The exhibitions will open with an artist reception at Ro2 Art in The Cedars located at 1501 S Ervay St. Dallas, TX 75215 and will take place from 12-6 PM. Attendance to the reception will be limited to groups no larger than ten over 20 minute intervals - Reservations available via EventBrite.

Bumin Kim's body of work is a showcase of questions; an approach towards the idea of painting in the expanded field. Kim explores the nature of line, and the potential held therein, to push the boundaries between the two-dimensional surface and three-dimensional space. The thin, long lines of thread present a visual translation of brush marks. Thread and string are synonymous with the actions of weaving and stitching, both for utilitarian purposes, and to serve as metaphor, for the joining of two separate entities with efforts to repair what once was, or with the intent of becoming something other, whole and new.

​The transformative power of materiality is at play in these works, and Kim has repurposed the context of thread, to emphasize the energy, delicacy, and grace of painting. Both the weight of line as thin and singular, and the collection of lines en masse as solid form, are sensitive tools found in Kim's repertoire.

Her inspirations come from natural scenes that are everywhere in my daily life and in memories. Kim explores the sceneries learning how they change naturally in color, texture, and form with each change in weather and seasons, days and nights. Nature has powerful energies, carrying with them a lot of information and feels.

These works shift, undulate, and pulse into our space, promulgating themselves as entities emancipated from the confines of flatland, and now poised, vibrating, just above the surface. Painting has been personified, and is no longer limited to the index of the hand, or the illusion of the flat surface. It is an echo of a once sorrowful song, who’s voice is present, tender, and alive.

"For this exhibition, Coalescence, the effort of accumulating shattered memories to put into one composition plays an important role. I engage with vibrational affections from the visualized textures of the physicality of material as well as pleasant-tensional illusions from color transitions."

ABOUT BUMIN KIM

Originally from Korea, Bumin Kim received her MFA in drawing and painting in 2015 from the University of North Texas and remains in North Texas as an active member of the contemporary art community. In addition to numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Texas, she has been featured at the Dallas Art Fair and Art Aspen. Her work is included in both public and private collections in Texas and throughout the United States and Europe. Bumin Kim is represented by Ro2 Art in Dallas.

NICOLE HAVEKOST: FELT SENSE

"I am fascinated by bodies. They are simultaneously beautiful and grotesque.

While coarse hair grows, revelations of desire can arrive.

While the lungs take air, bones degrade.

Once pregnant, the same body hosts faltering hormones.

Despite love, wounds ooze.

I can actively influence these processes of my physical form, but I cannot control any of them fully. My body is mine, it is also an organism with its own needs. I am compelled to explore this exquisite, repulsive organism that exists beyond my desires. My previous work explored my body and its discipline with very careful and precise forms. These new felt forms all me to explore this growing intimacy and acceptance I have with the organism that is my physical form. The act of sewing is integral to these new forms. Piercing, pulling and closing, each stitch is aggressive and restorative. Stitching is an act of accumulation; it is a collection of marks, moments and attachments that give shape to a form. Sewing these forms, I rest in my own body more fully."

ABOUT NICOLE HAVEKOST

Nicole Havekost is an artist and educator living in Rochester, Minnesota. Her own work is varied in media and technique but linked by her interest in material and process. She is a three-time Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant recipient and a 2018 Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council Advancing Artist Grant recipient. She has recently exhibited in Michigan, California and Tasmania, Australia and is currently readying new work for her first solo museum exhibition “Chthonic” at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Nicole earned her BFA at the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from the University of New Mexico.