Friday, August 10, 2018

Mie Yim: Sfumato at Ground Floor Gallery

Mie Yim with her work.
Photo courtesy of the artist.


From the Press Release:

Ground Floor Gallery is pleased to conclude our 5th anniversary exhibition, ” . . . in 5 Acts,” with “Sfumato,” mid-career artist Mie Yim’s first solo show in 10 years!

We are proud to have the privilege of showcasing the artist’s recent abstract paintings and drawings as the summer draws to a close and an exciting fall season looms ahead.

Based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Yim was featured in the gallery’s 2016 group exhibition, “Assembly Desired.” For her solo effort, she’ll be presenting larger-scale, sumptuous paintings created between 2017 – 2018.

The artist explains her title, “Sfumato,” in this excerpt of a letter addressed to Leonardo Da Vinci – the brilliant mind who originally created this visual device:


Dear Mr. Da Vinci,

I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me use the term, “Sfumato” for my painting show.

Yes you are the master at blending colors and shapes to the softest edges, where the lines disappear. I’m not sure if you invented the technique, but you certainly perfected it. I love the meaning of the word, “to evaporate like smoke”.

Poof! There goes your Mona Lisa.

Later on as a young adult, I went to your country to study art for a year.

I saw a lot of paintings, yours of course and tons of other artist that were your peers and others who followed in your foot steps.

I was so inspired.

I started out making figurative paintings. There were made up characters like bears and bunnies in fantasy narrative situations. I guess harking back to my early years. The story telling is great, but there’s this whole other thing called abstraction that you missed out on that’s pretty awesome. So I had to try that too. I literally started to break down the images.

For this show at Ground Floor Gallery, I choose recent paintings. Some veer toward abstraction, almost minimalist, others are figurative and a bit surrealist. 


Mie Yim: Sfumato
Opening Reception: August 16, 6-8:30 pm
August 16 - September 16, 2018

343 5th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215


Mie Yim, Kawaii, 46x42, oil on canvas, 2017
Photo courtesy of the artist.

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