Duk Ju L. Kim’s paintings burst and seethe with life. She’s called her current show at the Chicago Cultural Center “De-skinned,” and indeed there’s a raw, exposed feel to many of her pieces. Though nominally abstract, they are full of limbs, eyes, blood, and other uncharacterizable but obviously organic elements, all in furious motion. It may not be clear where these loose masses of flesh are headed, but they seem desperate to get there.
Kim’s not a fan of wall labels either. Aside from the show’s title, there’s just a paragraph with some cursory biographical information and something about Kim’s work being shaped by geopolitical events she’s witnessed, and not much else: not what materials were used, no dates completed, no grand artist’s statement. Kim prefers viewers just react to her paintings, and that’s as it should be.
