Back
.jpg)
K Blick
K Blick is a South Korean-born, London based artist who graduated from her MFA at Central Saint Martins in 2020. In her paintings, she interprets and depicts imaginations and stories of human existence in Baroque forms. In these works, concealed in a partial abstract language, she thinks about different stories told about natural history, spirituality, science, myths and works them into one story.
The Scent of Fire II
From the series 'Prometheus Stole the Fire from Zeus and gave it to Animals and not Humans', 2022
160w x 140h cm
Oil on canvas
Ships from London
£ 5,800.00
View
"Through the lens of contemporary society, I draw connections between the present and the past, creating new narratives that reconsider the myths and histories that we often take for granted. My practice explores allegories and mythologies centred around the trajectory of human existence to animals and nature, which are reinterpreted in playful and imaginative ways by the Baroque form.”
Baroque elements such as 17th-century Portuguese tiles, and irregular shapes, as well as Baroque artists like Rubens, fascinate and highly inspire K Blick in her practice. With her artistic style to paint her subjects, K Blick often connects inspirations of the past into the current reality of the present, mixing together Greek myths with biblical stories and natural history into one story on the canvas.
Allegories and mythologies are concepts that K Blick likes to explore as an artist. In particular, the timeline and trajectory of human existence next to nature and animals and animal rights - or in other words, the history of humankind and this earth is a subject within K’s artistic practice. These subjects and concepts allow her, as an artist, to imagine in playful ways the lives that were, or would have been. Paired with her distinct Baroque-influenced style, the audience becomes witness to a playful retelling of human nature. Especially noting the optics of the contemporary society used by the artist, her body of work is where classic and contemporary often meets.
In the works included in this show, K Blick also explores the allegory of the Greek mythology Prometheus. Prometheus stole fire from Zeus but gave it to animals instead of humans, which raises questions around the philosophy and mythology of human existence for her. Questions that explore how humans get the power and skills they have and can run things the way they do in modern times.
One series of works describes the paradoxical allegory about Prometheus, who stole the fire from Zeus and gave it to the animals rather than humans. This myth is created from several questions.
“How were humans able to reign the world? What allowed humans to think strategically? Why are humans different from animals? Could it be attributed to ‘fire’? How would the world be different if Prometheus gave the dinosaurs the fire instead? Prometheus created humans by making them out of clay in Greek mythology, but in my stories, my paintings; Prometheus is making dinosaurs from clay.”
With this new line of mythology, K Blick imagines a wholly different line, and timeline of evolution for humankind, one where they are not the apex predator of this earth. As wild as the thoughts of this alternative history for humans can be, K Blick complements these explorations with the subtlety in her colour palettes of solid earthy colours like dark blue and dark green, or pastel colours like light pink and subdued yellows. Her colour combinations are often vivid yet demure, as it represents her exuberant limitless imagination.
The optimistic playfulness is also highlighted through the fluid motion of her brushwork, in which more rounded entities and marks are present in the canvas. These motions and stylistic choices gave a sense of cohesiveness between the explored notions, reimagined stories, and how they are translated visually in her medium.
Her unique approach to the reimagination of humankind’s history make K Blick a prominent emerging artist in LDN 2DAY. K Blick graduated from Central Saint Martins with an MA in Fine Art and has since been based in London. K Blick’s international exhibition experience includes the Florence Biennale, Tate Modern, and Saatchi Gallery. In June 2021, K Blick was also shortlisted for The Ashurst Art Prize. Most recently, K Blick has had group exhibitions around London.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LDN 2DAY is a virtual group show and will be on view until the 4th of June, 2022.
Artwork photographs courtesy of the artist. Portraits taken by Alina zum Hebel (website/ instagram).
Photography courtesy of the artist.
