† Altar of Animosity †, 2024
Exhibited at PODIUM Gallery, Hong Kong
† Divine Descent †, 2024, Stainless steel, chrome-plated brass, silver, silicon and glass, 50x100x16cm (Glass fabrication: Lee Dle)
† Cruel Cuddle †, 2024, Stainless steel, aluminum and glass, 130x125x65cm (Metal work: 9TON, Glass fabrication: Kim Hun-Chul & Park Hyung-Jin)
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† Brutal Balloon †, 2024, Stainless steel, aluminum and glass, 148x100x76cm (Metal fabrication: 9TON, Glass fabrication: Kim Hun-Chul & Park Hyung-Jin)
Installation view of ‘Vitalis Violentia’ at PODIUM, Hong Kong.
Popularised by second-wave feminism in the late 1960s, ‘the personal is political’ underscores the connections between personal experience and larger political structures. In his new freestanding and wall sculptural installations, Dew Kim psycho-analyses his recent painful heartbreak and sheds light on how intimacy and romance are a microcosm of societal violence, visualising the emotional masochism he experienced through his signature, sharp-witted, BDSM-inspired aesthetics. In † Brutal Balloon † (2024) and † Cruel Cuddle † (2024), the stainless steel and aluminium crosses meta- morphose into monstrous creatures with phallicesque tentacles that warp and suffocate the purple and warm taupe glass bubbles, while wriggling and detecting the surrounding environment to search for the next target. Although the tortured glass may look like a victim at first glance, it is not as innocent and sympathetic as the viewer presumes. Glassblowing traditionally has been a male-dominated field as it requires significant physical strength and technical skills, often associated with male labour. Such a gendered perspective also reminds the artist of his suffering from toxic masculinity in his recent breakup. To overthrow these subjugations, Kim plots an artistic revenge by employing his expertise in metalsmithing and jewellery: He creates malleable stainless steel feelers that symbolically crucify and banish the glass bubbles—a signifier of patriarchal oppression.
The wall piece † Divine Descent † (2024) explores the liberal potential of crucifixion, the ancient form of execution in which a person was nailed or bound to a cross. Consisting of three components, the silver mini-cross is strained by two neo-medieval nipple clips made of chrome-plated brass and stainless steel, and a protruding phallus-like glass form. Presented as an unorthodox torture device, Kim playfully investigates the power of the powerless by drawing from the crucial event in Christian theology—Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice. By giving Jesus the infamous kiss, Judas betrayed Christ by exposing him to the armed crowd sent by the chief priests and elders. Despite being called the most notorious traitor in human history, Jesus would only be crucified with the final push from Judas, otherwise, there would be no fulfilment of the prophecy. In other words, one sometimes needs to engineer victimhood and seemingly succumb to the evil motives of others to accomplish ultimately benevolent purposes. Willingly accepting his fate and the psychological torture imposed by his former lover, Kim is destined to be reborn as the divine descent and responds to extreme violence with kindness and graciousness. / written by Cusson Cheng
Photo: Lok Hang Wu.The wall piece † Divine Descent † (2024) explores the liberal potential of crucifixion, the ancient form of execution in which a person was nailed or bound to a cross. Consisting of three components, the silver mini-cross is strained by two neo-medieval nipple clips made of chrome-plated brass and stainless steel, and a protruding phallus-like glass form. Presented as an unorthodox torture device, Kim playfully investigates the power of the powerless by drawing from the crucial event in Christian theology—Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice. By giving Jesus the infamous kiss, Judas betrayed Christ by exposing him to the armed crowd sent by the chief priests and elders. Despite being called the most notorious traitor in human history, Jesus would only be crucified with the final push from Judas, otherwise, there would be no fulfilment of the prophecy. In other words, one sometimes needs to engineer victimhood and seemingly succumb to the evil motives of others to accomplish ultimately benevolent purposes. Willingly accepting his fate and the psychological torture imposed by his former lover, Kim is destined to be reborn as the divine descent and responds to extreme violence with kindness and graciousness. / written by Cusson Cheng
Courtesy of PODIUM, Hong Kong.