KIM-LEE KHO
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Spring: The Perfect Season to Contemplate Growth & Not-Knowing

4/12/2020

2 Comments

 

The realm of not-knowing is
a great place for an artist to be, because what we already know
​we can no longer discover.

Picture
'Spring Returns' photo-digital artwork by Kim-Lee Kho, 2017.
As I re-build my business, not quite from the ground up, (the foundation remains, but the structures above must be replaced), I find I am spending a lot of time in the realm of not-knowing.

Life under pandemic has changed our rhythms and routines, our customary locations, and how we spend our time. My husband and I (but especially him) used to spend way too much time driving from place to place, because our work was in-person but also in a variety of locations.

Now by building up our tech and online skills, there is so much new and in flux but so much less by way of complications and travel. We just have to adjust to frequently re-arranging our home and studio to accommodate all the new virtual events and courses.

But looking deeper than that, I realize I am accustomed to spending a lot of time in that place of not-knowing, whether I'm developing new work for an exhibition, or at an earlier stage even, when I am excavating in order to discover new ideas in my studio, it is imperative that I enter that psychological space, or I will not get to what matters or what's new. Neither I nor my work would grow.

Other artists may work differently, but I think most have to work like that at some level, (and not just artists either!) or they would not make discoveries. And without locating something new, something fresh, where would art be? It would not move forward, nor would it deepen.

Spring is a season of the new: new growth, new life. And as this weekend is one of sacred spring festivals, Passover and Easter, it may be the perfect time to contemplate this.

​Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
2 Comments

A Packed House for My Heartspace Artist Talk & Opening Reception

11/3/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture
Kim-Lee Kho giving her 'Heartspace' artist talk to a packed house at The Red Head Gallery in Toronto. All photos by Kal Honey, © Kim-Lee Kho
What a day! I'm feeling so full of gratitude for the many people who came out for the artist talk and opening reception for my 'Heartspace' solo exhibition at The Red Head Gallery in Toronto.

It was so packed that on more than one occasion I had to act like a bus driver and urge everyone to move further inside to make room for the new arrivals!

Wonderful to connect and re-connect with many familiar faces, colleagues, friends, students, sponsors, and even family!

I gave the group a guided tour through the artworks – so many of which merit a little background or additional explanation to enrich the experience rather than replace the personal encounter – covering conceptual, material and 
technical aspects as well as recounting an occasional anecdote. There were also some excellent questions from visitors rounding out the experience.

While I rest and recover I will leave you with some photographs from the afternoon, and later on I will post photos of the installation without the crowds.


If you were unable to attend the opening reception, I will be back at the gallery on Saturday, November 9, from noon to 5pm. I'd love to share the show with you then, but of course visit whenever you can! And please don't forget to sign the guest book :-)

​Heartspace runs through November 23, 2019.
2 Comments

Looking Back at My Own Early Foray into Contemporary Portraiture

5/13/2019

2 Comments

 
I’ve been thinking a lot about contemporary portraiture lately, having just given a new talk on the subject, followed by a new weekend workshop.

I’ve been drawing or painting or otherwise making portraits my entire life, and it remains an important aspect of my work.

Nowadays a lot of my portraits are photo-based, as you can see in my posts and website. I got thinking about when I first started working on photo-based and photo-digital portraits, and realized it was for my first solo show as an adult, entitled Face[t]s of Valerie, in 2007. All of the portraits were of my friend Valerie, alone or sometimes in combination with me.

This image was kind of the title piece for the show, and the deepest I explored digitally in it, (the show was multimedia, because I am nothing if not a “multi” kind of artist, lol!). It’s called The Many Facets of Valerie.

In it you can see numerous shots from the bigger shoot, allowing me to show what interested me: the living face of my subject, its variability and expressiveness. “I am large, I contain multitudes” wrote Walt Whitman, as we all are.

So it’s a seminal, developmental piece. It started a train of thought that hasn’t stopped since, though it has branched off and grown in many directions.

19"x13” digital print. And yes, it’s available.

Does this kind of post, deep-diving into an individual piece, interest you? If so, please let me know in the comments. 
Picture
The Many Facets of Valerie by Kim-Lee Kho is a photo-digital portrait that was seminal in my development. From 2007.
2 Comments

To Find a Wonderful Idea, You Have to Get into the Sandbox

9/29/2018

1 Comment

 
OK Go is a band that does extraordinarily creative, innovative and powerful visual music videos like no one else – they are art forms in and of themselves. They pull off incredible feats without relying on the magic of digital effects, what you see always happened in real life and in real time.

Seriously, you need to check these videos out, no matter what your musical preferences are, those won't matter at all. Here are some I recommend (titles are links):
  • Rube Goldberg Machine (This Too Shall Pass)
  • Musical Obstacle Course (Needing/Getting)
  • Zero Gravity (Upside Down & Inside Out)
  • The One Moment (incredible synced slow motion)
​
What these videos show is that these guys are masters at finding ideas. Extraordinary ideas. They also obviously have an amazing team and a considerable budget to pull them off, but plenty of uninteresting ideas have that and get made.

Below is a TED Talk they gave on "How to Find a Wonderful Idea". They point out that the usual approach of sitting in your chair (or other favourite thinking spot) and dreaming up an idea, then planning and polishing it before executing it is missing a vital step: the "sandbox" – that place where you play and discover or unearth your real idea, the wonderful one that the preliminary idea (which leads you to where the sandbox is) was just the seed for.
This feels so relevant to me right now as I work to prepare a big new room installation for the In Situ multi-arts Festival at the Small Arms Inspection Building in Mississauga. Click here for more info in my News section.

I had an idea for the installation but did not get the grant that would fund it. So now I am in my sandbox discovering the new form(s) it will take, and hoping that in the course of my tests, experiments and discovery process, I will unearth that wonderful idea...

​...the one that is waiting for me to find it.
Hands shown palms open and up, above a painting table, with lots of paint on them
Getting your hands dirty is a vital part of finding your next wonderful idea. Photo: Kim-Lee Kho
Have you unearthed some of your own wonderful ideas in a sandbox of some type? What's your favourite sandbox? If you haven't tried it, where could you start? Let me know in the comments below!
1 Comment

Why You'll Find My Head in the Clouds So Often

12/30/2016

0 Comments

 
It's taken me a long time but I realize now why my head is – and has always been – in the clouds:
I am building immense, elaborate, yet delicate, idea-mansions up there. 
Over time I hope I'll be able to share a lot more of them with you!
​


(By clicking the 'Blue Sky' image you'll be able to see it incorporated into a found object that became part of the 'Containment' installation.)

If you would like to make a contribution to help bring some portion of those mansions to life (even $5 or $10 helps!) please click below and accept my heartfelt thanks.
Help bring my "mansions" to life via PayPal
Picture
Sometimes even my work is in the clouds, not just my head! Blue Sky photo-digital image (2016) by Kim Lee Kho, which formed part of the Blue Sky 3-D piece within my Containment installation at In Situ this Fall. Click on the image to see an installation view.
0 Comments

    Kim-Lee Kho

    As a visual artist I like nothing more than getting up to my elbows in paint or little plastic toys, or wading in at the deep end in pursuit of an idea. When I am not teaching others in a similar vein, you can find me researching, writing and noodling around in my studio, seeing where my latest lines of inquiry lead me.

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  • Home
  • Gallery
    • Burnt Offerings (2022) >
      • Sponsors: Thank you
    • My Father's Things (series)
    • Heartspace
    • A Full Heart
    • Subject to Limitation >
      • Boxed In
      • Expanding Media
      • Fences as Barriers
      • Containment
    • Skin
    • Face[t]s
    • [Un]Settled
    • Digital / Photo / Mixed
    • Painting
    • To See More
  • NEW SHOP! 🎉
  • Courses & Events
    • Current + Upcoming
    • Virtual Studio Parties
    • Gallery Walk & Talks
    • Testimonials
  • Blog
    • News Archive
  • ABOUT
    • Biography
    • Statement
    • CV
    • Publications/Media
  • Contact