IMUGI Dragon (2024)
by June Kim
Date: 2024
Dimensions: NFT
Medium: Video AI
Number of editions: 1/1 - unique edition
Price: 2 ETH
Artwork Purpose
In this high-quality print, artist June Kim uses new tools of artificial intelligence to draw a metaphorical portrait of the imugi legend, this imaginary creature in the middle of the chin between the snake and the dragon, which is found in Korean mythology. Korean folklore presents different interpretations around the nature of imugi, the most common one being that an imugi had the power to become a true dragon (yong) If he caught a Yeouiju fallen from the sky. Nevertheless, it is a less known variant of the public that takes shape in this work, presenting the imugi as proto-Dragons who must survive a thousand years in a lake before they can transform into real dragons.
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February 9, 2024 marks the beginning of a new year in South Korea, placed under the sign of the green dragon of the woods (or blue) in the Korean and Chinese zodiac. Since ancient times, the dragon has always been a creature of good omen, and dreaming of a dragon was considered the best dream. In Korean culture, the dragon symbolizes courage, extraordinary and hope. By creating this highly symbolic work, the artist June Kim has enclosed the wish that its owner turns into a dragon during the year: a metaphor of the final goal that we have been protesting for a long time. One thousand years have passed, the imugi is about to wake up from its hibernation and give way to a vigorous and majestic dragon.​
The artist is also inspired by the legend of the sculptor Pygmalion, who falls madly in love with a statue born of his hands. If in the West, this myth is often used to illustrate in a radical way the question of the particular relationship that the artist has with his/her work, however June Kim offers us a very different interpretation of this text, tinged with the speeches around personal development that she discovered in the United States. The sculptor explains that Pygmalion has managed to visualize an ideal beauty in an unpolished stone, arguing that all gemstones have the potential to become leaders. The Commission’s work is a symbol of an ongoing state of work. Through this creation, the artist materializes a direct link between Korean mythology and New Thought, a spiritual trend that developed in the United States during the second half of the 19th century and which still persists today. The concept of the transformation of the imugi into dragon is evoked in parallel with the Law of Attraction, a belief that by focusing on positive or negative thoughts, the public can bring positive or negative experiences into their lives. The imugi sketched by June Kim contains a warm red light, a touch of colour inspired by the legend of the red thread that connects all those we are destined to meet in our lifetime. This creation is for her a way to revive and coexist the beliefs of the past in one and the same room, to better illustrate, whatever the cultures, human beliefs are gathered around a common ideological and spiritual foundation
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Adress
You can discover the artworks in Paris or Versailles by appointment (write me).
Terms of delivery
Metropolitan France: 1 week
European Union: 2 weeks
Rest of the world: 2-4 weeks
Contact
+33 6 32 93 07 45
Biography
June Kim (born in 1987 in South Korea) is an artist who creates phygital installations made of red thread, from her data on social networks. The artist studied photography at the University of Bukyong (Busan), then left for the United States of America to join the Art College of Design in Pasadena, California, where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Artsarts. In 2010, she began her professional career by joining the team of a prestigious production studio in Los Angeles. June Kim is evolving with technology and developing a positive vision of digital and its growing impact on our contemporary societies.
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In parallel, June Kim develops her career as a visual artist. Her artistic work articulates a contemporary reflection around an ancient Asian belief: “An invisible red thread connects at birth those who are destined to meet.” The two people connected by the red wire are lovers destined to be together, regardless of the place, time or circumstances. In Europe, we could compare this concept to the idea of “soul mate”, although this thread can also connect a person to his/her mother, father, brother, friend, So they can discover and love each other. If the red thread and the Asian belief behind this motif are recurring in the work of many artists like Chiharu Shiota or David ÄŒerný, June KIM’s works bring a new dimension to these concepts. For the artist, the theory of the red thread - an Asian poetic equivalent of the concept of Destiny - is no longer a mere belief, but is anchored in a tangible reality: Humans invented Fate, these invisible red threads today exist indeed, they are our algorithms.
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Following a long period of overwork, June Kim feels the need to reconnect with her cultural roots and the natural environment around her. The artist makes the decision to leave the big production studios in Los Angeles to set up her own agency, on a human scale, thus benefiting from a more serene work rhythm. The question of her connection to nature gradually became a prominent subject in her personal and then artistic reflection over the last four years. The development of recent tools using artificial intelligence processes allows her to incorporate a new dimension in her work, pushing her to explore the possibilities of intangible art.
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Her still images and digital animations explore ways of reconnecting humans with Nature, through the creation of imaginary landscapes rooted in reality, traversed on either side by abstract red threads. This new facet of her work explores the question of human filiation to Nature, where the red thread becomes an umbilical cord to which every human being is attached.
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If June Kim feel in the new artificial intelligence processes a new tool for artists, she warned on the need to succeed in transmitting to these software its own philosophy of creation, its artistic touch, which she groups under the concept of “prompt philosophy”.
Her work has been awarded multiple times (SeeMe Global Competition, Scope Art Show Art Basel 2012, California Open Exhibition 2013, finalist Apple Vision Pro...). June Kim took part to numerous art exhibitions in California (Main Museum, San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, BG Gallery, H Gallery, Irvine Fine Arts Center…). From 2019, her work is exhibited in many international exhibitions or fairs (Gallery Space776 in New York, Gallery 508 in Londres, Stratosphere NFT in Pékin, Maison des Associés in Toulouse, galerie Iham in Paris, Gallery XR in Séoul, Los Angeles Art Show 2019, 2021 and 2022, Bitcoin 2021, NFT NYC 2021, BWB 2022, Art Basel Miami 2022, NFT Paris 2024...).
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Text written by Annelise Stern - copyright Art Girls
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