Installation view of 《One Step Forward, Please》 ©OCI Museum of Art
The OCI Museum of Art presents Kim Jiwon’s
solo exhibition 《One Step Forward, Please》 through December 20.
This large-scale exhibition highlights the
career of mid-career painter Kim Jiwon, who has devoted over 30 years to an
unrelenting pursuit of painting with a mindset of “never looking back.”
Featuring works from his early pieces to his most recent paintings, the show
offers a comprehensive overview of his artistic world.
Spanning from faint memories of the past,
to the realities of contemporary life, and into the artist’s inner world, the
exhibition unfolds across floors in a sequence that mirrors a gradual
zoom-in—from memory, to reality, and finally to the mind within.
Installation view of 《One Step Forward, Please》 ©OCI Museum of Art
On the first floor, the “Memory” section
features Kim’s ‘Rooftop of My Father’ series, which encapsulates the artist’s
personal narrative across several decades. The moment visitors sit on the
wooden platform placed at the center of the gallery, they are invited into a
unique experience—drifting through a faded space-time through someone else’s
gaze.
On the floor above unfolds “the most
realistic and Korean visual landscape.” Everyday scenes—such as apartment
complexes and roadside views that we often pass by without notice—take center
stage, allowing viewers to experience a reversal of attention toward the
seemingly ordinary.
Installation view of 《One Step Forward, Please》 ©OCI Museum of Art
On the top floor, the artist’s inner world
unfolds. Filling the mint-colored walls, a hundred drawings reveal Kim’s belief
that “painting itself is an attitude.” With raw, playful ideas that highlight
the artist’s sense of humor and spontaneity, these works offer a delightful
remedy that loosens the tension of today’s overheated art scene.
