Untitled, 2002
Untitled, 2002
5x5 inches




Untitled, 2002
Untitled, 2002
5x5 inches




installation view
Checkerboard Lounge
installation view




 Cheonae Kim: Checkerboard Lounge

Illinois artist Cheonae Kim opens a solo exhibition of recent works at Brian Gross Fine Art on Thursday, December 5, with a reception for the artist from 5:30-7:30 pm. Cheonae Kim will present a series of geometric panel paintings, displayed individually and in series. Her works are brilliantly painted compositions ranging from miniature to large scale wall installations. The artist's formal concerns translate to color through a series of small scale paintings that resonate with vibrant color combinations. Grouped as a series or site-specific wall installations, the paintings create dynamic hard-edge compositions. Flat, opaque bands of pigment wrap around the sides of jewel-like surfaces, creating geometric patterns of color and line. Kim uses flashe paint, unique for its loaded pigment content and completely matte surface, on three-dimensional wooden panels, yielding painting-objects. The small scale—the paintings range in size from 4x3x1 inches to 7x7x1 inches—further enhances the object-like presence of the work.

Kim has long associated her work to a visual form of music, stating that "certain forms can suggest certain sounds, and different stripes of color in one piece can relate to a certain tonality in music." The title of the exhibition, Checkerboard Lounge, references a Chicago blues club of the same name, playfully correlating the relationship of her work to sound and tonality, music and atmosphere.

Born in Korea, Cheonae Kim received a MFA from Southern Illinois University, IL in 1986. In 1993, she was awarded a NEA grant for painting. Her environmental, large scale wall sculptures were part of a group exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum where she executed a unique site-specific work on an exterior wall, and she created site-specific murals for the UCLA Hammer Museum in Los Angeles as part of the Hammer Project Series in 2000. Another recent project includes a glass entry wall for the Chicago Police Department. This is her second solo exhibition at Brian Gross Fine Art.