Mickey Mouse Ai(32"x48")Mix Med on Paper year 2025
Bong Jung Kim
Saturday 10am - 9pm (Sunday Closed)
Harmony215(24"_x24")Mix Med on Canvas year 2025
Harmony216(24"_x24")Mix Med on Canvas year 2025
Harmony226(34"x57")Mix Med on Canvas year 2025
Harmony227(34"x57")Mix Med on Canvas year 2025
Harmony231(48"x34")Mix Med on Paper year 2025
Peter's Boat114(34"x57")Mixed Media on Canvas year 2025
Peter's Boat115(34"x57")Mixed Media on Canvas year 2025
Sunset5(18"x24")Mixed Media on Canvas 2024
Sunset17(18"x24")Mixed Media on Canvas 2025
Between Pulse and Horizon: The Work of Bong Jung Kim
By: Iris Inhee Moon
In Between Pulse and Horizon, Bong Jung Kim presents a body of work that moves fluidly between material density and atmospheric openness. Across mixed-media canvases and large-scale works on paper, embedded circuitry, salvaged wires, and industrial fragments coexist with sweeping gestures of pigment that evoke wind, sky, and tide. What emerges is not merely a shift in subject, but a recalibration of scale—an exploration of how energy circulates within matter and expands into the environment.
Kim’s materials carry history. Computer boards and mechanical fragments, once designed to transmit literal current, are absorbed into layered fields of acrylic.
While their original function has ceased, their presence remains operative;they no longer operate as machines, but as topographical anchors that redirect the viewer’s eye, interrupting and guiding movement across the surface. In this space, technology becomes tactile, and rigid structure dissolves into gesture.
Across many canvases, silhouetted forms rise from beneath veils of pigment. Swelling contours and vertical structures suggest an anatomical presence without resolving into literal representation. The body appears not as a spectacle, but as a diffused, embedded architecture—partially obscured and deeply felt. There is a restrained sensuality here; intensity is not loudly announced, but steadily sustained, allowing viewers to find their own resonance within the forms.
In Kim’s vocabulary, "pulse" is not a theatrical vibration but a measured vitality. It lives in the rhythm of the artist’s hand: the blue arc spiraling across the canvas, the grey sweep bending like wind, and the mechanical fragment that alters the flow. Even where red flares against darker grounds, the energy feels contained. The surfaces absorb heat; the paintings breathe. This pulse finds its counterpart in the "horizon." In his expansive works, sky and water open into luminous bands where a small wooden boat rests within the vastness—neither anchored nor adrift. Motion is implied even in suspension, and the horizon becomes a crucial point of orientation.
These elemental works do not depart from the circuitry paintings; they extend them. The horizon is where movement finds direction—a necessary boundary that prevents energy from dissipating. Without the horizon, the pulse would scatter; without the pulse, the horizon would remain inert. Between them, a delicate modulation occurs. Kim’s process reflects this balance, where pigment is pushed and rotated in arcs that echo natural currents, creating a productive tension between resistance and release. What appears quiet is never passive; it is disciplined energy, shaped rather than suppressed.
In a culture of acceleration and digital stimulus, Kim’s work invites sustained contemplation. Industrial remnants—the artifacts of rapid obsolescence—are transformed into enduring forms. Matte fields slow the eye, allowing details to emerge gradually. These paintings do not exhaust themselves at first glance; instead, they deepen with time. Between Pulse and Horizon offers a space where the mechanical and the elemental finally converge, inviting us to attune to the quiet, enduring rhythm of a world in constant flow
Iris Inhee Moon, MACMHC, is the Founder and Director of CURA: Curatorial and Therapeutic Arts Initiative, and Supervisor at the Carter Burden Network Case Management Unit for Elderly and Disabled.
김봉중의 맥과 지평 사이
글: 아이리스문인희
이번전시《맥과지평사이》에서김봉중은물질의단단한밀도와대기의드넓은개방성사이를유연하게가로지르는작품세계를선보인다. 혼합매체캔버스와대형종이작업위에는회로기판, 와이어, 금속판같은산업폐기물들이바람과하늘, 조수와지평선을연상시키는거대한안료의움직임과공존한다. 여기서나타나는것은단순히소재의변화가아니라‘척도(Scale)’의전환이다. 이는에너지가물질내부에서어떻게순환하고, 다시환경으로확장되는지를탐구하는작가의시도라할수있다.
작가가선택한재료들은저마다의역사를품고있다. 한때전류를전달하기위해설계되었던컴퓨터회로판과기계파편들은이제아크릴물감의겹겹의층위속으로흡수된다. 본래의기능은멈추었으나그존재감은여전히역동적이다. 이기계들은더이상장치로서작동하지않는대신, 관람자의시선을가로막거나유도하며화면위의움직임을이끌어내는지형학적이정표가된다. 차갑게느껴질수있는기술적소재는작가의손길을거쳐따뜻한촉각이되고, 딱딱한구조는부드러운몸짓으로변화한다.
작품을가까이들여다보면, 여러점의캔버스에서겹겹의안료아래로실루엣들이은은하게떠오른다. 부풀어오른윤곽과수직적구조들은구체적인형태를지칭하지않으면서도생명체와같은해부학적존재감을암시한다. 여기서신체는시각적구경거리가아니라, 화면속에녹아들어부분적으로가려진하나의내밀한구조로서존재한다. 절제된생명력은요란하게드러나기보다묵묵히지속되는에너지로화면을채운다.작가는정답을제시하기보다보는이가화면속흐름을따라가며스스로느끼도록여백을남겨둔다.
이전시에서말하는‘맥(Pulse)’은거칠게뛰는진동이아니라정제된생명력이다. 그것은캔버스를가로지르며소용돌이치는푸른호선, 바람처럼휘어지는회색의궤적, 그리고흐름을바꾸는기계파편등작가의손끝이만드는리듬속에살아있다. 어두운바탕위로붉은빛이감도는작품에서조차에너지는과하게터지지않고화면안에서조율되며유지된다. 화면은열기를흡수하고회화는조용히숨을쉰다.
동시에‘지평(Horizon)’은단순한배경이상의의미를지닌다. 하늘과바다가넓게펼쳐진작품들속에서작은나무배한척은광활한공간위에놓여있다. 이배는어디에단단히묶여있지도, 완전히표류하지도않은채움직임과멈춤사이에서균형을잡고있다. 여기서지평선은화면안에서움직임이어디로향하고있는지를알려주는방향성이된다. 지평선이존재하기에에너지는흩어지지않고하나의흐름으로모인다. 맥박은지평을만나방향을얻고, 지평은맥박을통해생동감을갖게되는것이다.
김봉중의작업과정은이러한리듬의균형을닮아있다. 안료는밀리고회전하며바람과조류를닮은곡선을그리며나아간다. 매몰된파편들은이러한움직임을방해하고재지향시키며긴장과해소를반복한다. 겉으로차분해보이는화면은결코수동적이지않다. 그것은억눌린것이아니라정교하게형태가잡힌‘단련된에너지’의결과물이다.
빠르게소비되는이미지와디지털자극의시대에, 김봉중의작품은우리에게‘천천히바라보기’를권유한다. 급격한퇴락의산물인산업잔해들은예술을통해영원한형상으로변모하며, 매트한화면은시선을늦춰세부적인요소들을서서히드러낸다. 그의그림은한번보고지나치기보다오래머물수록그깊이가더해진다. 맥박과지평이만나는이조용한자리에서, 관람객은기계적인것과근원적인것이하나의흐름으로수렴하는순간을경험하게된다.
글: 아이리스문인희 (Iris Inhee Moon, MACMHC)
큐레이토리얼및치료예술이니셔티브 'CURA(Curatorial and Therapeutic Arts Initiative)'의설립자이자디렉터이며, 카터버든네트워크(Carter Burden Network) 노인및장애인사례관리부서의슈퍼바이저로활동하고있다.
Bong Jung Kim
BIO
1962 Born in Seoul Korea
Since 1990 Lives and works in NY as an Artist
EDUCATION
B.F.A Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Bong Jung Kim
201-981-5887
bong.kim258@gmail.com
2026 "BETWEEN PULSE AND HORIZON" Riverside Gallery, New Jersey
2025 "IMPERFECT SUBLIME" GALA Art Center at College Point in New York
2024 "Harmony" ACC Gallery at Tena y in NJ
2024 "Harmony" Belskie Museum in Closter Public Library
2023 "Quest" One Artspace Gallery at Tribeca in New York City
2022 "Convalescence" Kate Oh Gallery, 72nd St. Madison Avenue in New York City 2021 "Love Lust Longing" KCC Gallery, New Jersey
2019 "Cyber-Addiction" Riverside Gallery, New Jersey
2017 "Temptation" Paris Koh Fine Art Gallery, Chelsea, in New York City
2016 "Cyber-Addiction" President’s Gallery in John Jay College, New York City 2015 "Cyber-Addiction" Museum of Contemporary Art, Crete, Greece 2015 "Cyber-Addiction" Cyprus House(Ambassador) in Athens Greece
2014 "Addiction" Elga Wimmer-Hyun Contemporary, Chelsea, New York City 2012 “Traces” Gallery 1&9, New Jersey
2011 "Time of Red and Traces" Riverside Gallery, New Jersey
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 "Fort Lee Artist Guild Group Show“ Fort Lee Museum in FORT LEE, NJ 2025”86-25” (SNU CFA 86 Alumni), Gallery The FLUX, The FLOW in Jongno-gu, Seoul 2025 "Reclaiming the Invisible“ PARIS KOH FINE ARTS in FORT LEE, NJ
2025 "Visual Voyage" BELSKIE MUSEUM in Closter, NJ
2024 "Static Motion" Gallery 14C, Jersey City
2023”86-23” (SNU CFA 86 Alumni), Gallery The FLUX, The FLOW in Jongno-gu, Seoul 2023 "Interplay" One Artspace Gallery at Tribeca in New York City
2021 "Pop Art Figures" Present and Past by Skin Erkan at Kate Oh Gallery 2018 "Arirang Grace" Hammond Museum, New York
2015 "Black Power" D'Arte Gallery, Chelsea, New York City
2014 "Shades of time" Queens Museum of Art, New York
2014 "Heart of Gold" Nabi Museum of Art, New Jersey
2014 "Shades of time" Gallery Korea in Korean Cultural Service, New York 2013 "Introspection" Tenri Gallery in Tenri Cultural Institute, New York
2013 "Variations on the Canon" COOHAUS ART, Chelsea, New York
2002 "Pulse" Gallery Korea in Korean Cultural Service, New York
1998 "The day and night transparent" Asian Arts American center” New York
201-981-5887
bong.kim258@gmail.com
작품
Mickey Mouse Ai(32"x48")Mix Med on Paper year 2025
Harmony215(24"_x24")Mix Med on Canvas year 2025
Harmony216(24"_x24")Mix Med on Canvas year 2025
Harmony226(34"x57")Mix Med on Canvas year 2025
Harmony227(34"x57")Mix Med on Canvas year 2025
Harmony231(48"x34")Mix Med on Paper year 2025
Peter's Boat114(34"x57")Mixed Media on Canvas year 2025
Peter's Boat115(34"x57")Mixed Media on Canvas year 2025
Sunset5(18"x24")Mixed Media on Canvas 2024