sj kim-ryu
sj kim-ryu
sj kim-ryu; Gut Piano, 2022; Text, thread, cotton fabric, ink, paper; Dimensions variable; Photography by Evan Walsh
sj kim-ryu; Gut Piano (detail), 2022; Text, thread, cotton fabric, ink, paper; Dimensions variable
sj kim-ryu; Gut Piano (detail), 2022; Text, thread, cotton fabric, ink, paper; Dimensions variable; Photography by Evan Walsh
sj kim-ryu; Waiting for Gut Piano, 2022; Triptych, inkjet print; 24 x 36 in., each; Suilma R-T, Tammy K, Gwendolyn B
sj kim-ryu; Waiting for Gut Piano (detail), 2022; Triptych, inkjet print; 24 x 36 in., each; Suilma R-T, Tammy K, Gwendolyn B
GUT PIANO
Gut Piano, playing “Remorse in Four Movements” is a sculpture that is also a continuing performance.
In 2019, “Remorse in Four Movements” was recited in kim-ryu’s durational performance, Knuckles, I Know. The same vermillion threads were used in the outdoor performing space, creating a large geometric portal, centering an oak tree.
In Gut Piano, kim-ryu’s poems shape-shift again into a different medium: sculpture. Ceremonial red threads that were used in the performance in 2019 are truncated into long pieces, radiating from a black box, piercing into the text of “Remorse in Four Movements.” As a body that decomposes and reincarnates into the various elements of the universe, the materials that were used in the past iteration of er poetry reincarnate into another form.
WAITING FOR GUT PIANO
Waiting for Gut Piano is kim-ryu’s offering to the goddess of Force Majeure, uncertainty and chaos. They are not only photographs of women who are close to er, but also a silent audience who is a dormant storm. As a sister piece of Gut Piano, this triptych pre-performs a journey back to the black, a deep sea, a licorice calm.
@GUTPIANO22
BIO
sj kim-ryu is a poet who works in various mediums, whose focal point has been a language of migration that took place around the Pacific Ocean. A body of water is a form of borderlessness; hence its continual transformation beyond boundaries. kim-ryu’s creative process comes from er earlier days of navigating this land, as a young undocumented immigrant. By constantly shifting between genres and mediums, kim-ryu’s work generates an energy of the primordial, deeply rooted in the improvisation and chaos, landing in minimal rituals.
@SJKIMRYU