https://meridiano.art Meridiano Sun, 18 Jan 2026 20:13:08 +0000 https://meridiano.art en https://meridiano.art/KIMSOOJA Wed, 06 Sep 2023 19:34:18 +0000 Meridiano https://meridiano.art/KIMSOOJA KIMSOOJA:자오선 (Jaoseon)February–September, 2023 Kimsooja (b. 1957; Korea) is an internationally acclaimed conceptual multi-media artist whose practice combines performance, film, photo, and site-specific installation using textile, light, and sound. Her principle of ‘non-doing’ and ‘non-making’ are key to a conceptual and structural investigation of performance that inverts the notion of the artist as the predominant actor. Emphasizing stillness of mind, and drawing on the meditation practices inherent to Hindu and Buddhist philosophies, Kimsooja’s work brings us to an awareness of both self and others. <img width="1600" height="2000" width_o="1600" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0020f9e5d79a055e3ff7599261c179b63e7033b99d67f345ceea9329c694e167/2.-KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO-pic-by-Sergio-Lpez.jpg" data-mid="195804478" border="0" data-scale="61" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0020f9e5d79a055e3ff7599261c179b63e7033b99d67f345ceea9329c694e167/2.-KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO-pic-by-Sergio-Lpez.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="2000" width_o="1500" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8f632f6aecb90038f8ea1aa4de5d7ad72ad4c05d575759d4e96fd189ac876183/KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO_2615BAJA.jpg" data-mid="189974647" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8f632f6aecb90038f8ea1aa4de5d7ad72ad4c05d575759d4e96fd189ac876183/KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO_2615BAJA.jpg" /> <img width="2000" height="1500" width_o="2000" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4fb9b3670ae47d4c1b89b8a88a8c2958cbb4ba4848cda3f333ce03c0f493da7c/KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO_2532BAJA.jpg" data-mid="189974643" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4fb9b3670ae47d4c1b89b8a88a8c2958cbb4ba4848cda3f333ce03c0f493da7c/KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO_2532BAJA.jpg" /> <img width="2000" height="1500" width_o="2000" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dca88f83c48f68659fe09fa5c42e7b4fca69707678a42378b1ac997420ea1ce6/KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO_2578BAJA.jpg" data-mid="189974645" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dca88f83c48f68659fe09fa5c42e7b4fca69707678a42378b1ac997420ea1ce6/KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO_2578BAJA.jpg" /> As the first artist to exhibit at Meridiano, Kimsooja is conscious of the gallery’s name, which originates from meridian — a circular line connecting the north and south poles of the earth at the shortest vertical distance — as well as the exhibition space’s architectural elements, which are exposed to the intense direct sunlight along Oaxaca’s Pacific Coast. Jaoseon’s initiates a performance that places the verticality of the body at the moment when the light is transformed into a geometric structure within the gallery. <img width="1333" height="2000" width_o="1333" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3763343827044619d632ea359ed12c28d318e479164dc368c3d359922a8ff9f4/5.-KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO-pic-by-Sergio-Lpez.jpg" data-mid="195804481" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3763343827044619d632ea359ed12c28d318e479164dc368c3d359922a8ff9f4/5.-KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO-pic-by-Sergio-Lpez.jpg" /> The exhibition features the work, Deductive Object – Bottari, 2023, a stone the artist discovered during her stay in Puerto Escondido. She placed this in the center of Meridiano’s square room, which is the first space that visitors enter. The open-air space is exposed to the sky and natural elements, and Kimsooja considers the stone as a bottari that can replace the artist’s body during the exhibition’s duration. The stone’s surface was painted matte black as an attempt to dematerialize the rock’s weight, gravity, and inherent temporality. The stone by its nature conveys the essence of presence and solidity, and with its black colour, it also conveys an intriguing depth and absence. The act of painting may be understood in the context of wrapping an object with cloth like a bundle, and serves as a symbolic contrast to the diffraction film installation work that the artist has been steadily presenting since 2006 in that it simultaneously conceals and reveals the inner space. This represents the core of Kimsooja’s practice, in which she addresses formalistic questions and sensitive issues of the human condition such as migration, poverty, violence, and the displaced self, combining performance, video, photo, and site-specific installations. Kimsooja brings together a conceptual and structural investigation of performance through mobility/immobility that inverts the notion of the artist as the predominant actor based on her “non-doing” and “non-making” principle. During the gallery’s opening, the artist activated Meridiano’s space with a ritual performance of fire. The work, titled Geometry of Fire, consisted of a deliberate pattern of bricks that was laid on the bare floor and covered with sand. A stack of firewood was placed atop in a grid shape to slowly build a rolling bonfire until it collapses in ash. The flames emitted a smoke that rose through the rectangular-shaped frame for the open ceiling. As the smoke disperses in the air, it reveals the organic, constantly evolving shape of the wind and the fire’s invisible but powerful aroma. The sun’s rays shined through the space delineating both the architecture and rising shadowy smoke. The performance, which will be repeated at specified moments throughout the exhibition’s duration, heightens viewers’ sense of space, time, reality, and fundamental elements. <img width="1600" height="2000" width_o="1600" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dd4116489d97178a0c0dc982d83d834e1be86965adce7475c70a072d055fda57/6.-KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO-pic-by-Sergio-Lpez.jpg" data-mid="195804482" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dd4116489d97178a0c0dc982d83d834e1be86965adce7475c70a072d055fda57/6.-KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO-pic-by-Sergio-Lpez.jpg" /> <img width="1600" height="2000" width_o="1600" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/04e62977f4fe855b1ec07b67de80ec06a7014e0d5a065e5a80241b3ab0b03043/3.-KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO-pic-by-Sergio-Lpez.jpg" data-mid="195804479" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/04e62977f4fe855b1ec07b67de80ec06a7014e0d5a065e5a80241b3ab0b03043/3.-KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO-pic-by-Sergio-Lpez.jpg" /> Jaoseon initiates questions of materiality and ephemerality in Meridiano’s two exhibition spaces with the combination of sculpture and performance that simultaneously complement and interrogate each other. This work by artist Kimsooja is based on the lying, standing, and sitting (Buddhist zazen) shown in her (well-known) performance videos A Laundry Woman, A Homeless Woman, and A Needle Woman, as well as elements of nature and textiles that are organically connected and circulated in the exponential painting style. The artist brings the familiar, yet timeless elements viewers experience in life into the realm of the exhibition space to think and look at things anew. <img width="1333" height="2000" width_o="1333" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9fa332f35e5659e3ff84d31dbac31285cbd514ac9c5e5d1660587341ec0d736e/4.-KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO-pic-by-Sergio-Lpez.jpg" data-mid="195804480" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9fa332f35e5659e3ff84d31dbac31285cbd514ac9c5e5d1660587341ec0d736e/4.-KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO-pic-by-Sergio-Lpez.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="2000" width_o="1500" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6e8339bede9ca29c8cf56406dc16e9325d5bd7124e9ee86e1e250d9f779f5883/KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO_2641BAJA.jpg" data-mid="189974642" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6e8339bede9ca29c8cf56406dc16e9325d5bd7124e9ee86e1e250d9f779f5883/KIMSOOJA_MERIDIANO_2641BAJA.jpg" /> https://meridiano.art/IZUMI-KATO Sun, 18 Jan 2026 20:13:08 +0000 Meridiano https://meridiano.art/IZUMI-KATO IZUMI KATO JANUARY 30 – JUNE, 2026&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<img width="8192" height="5464" width_o="8192" height_o="5464" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4a2544b37f04fecb5ab8035eb7ed280efd4d5cff7a1e455ff045436e439ee8d7/03_WebResolution_Meridiano_IzumiKato_PhotoByAlejandroRamirezOrozco.jpg" data-mid="244488462" border="0" data-scale="76" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4a2544b37f04fecb5ab8035eb7ed280efd4d5cff7a1e455ff045436e439ee8d7/03_WebResolution_Meridiano_IzumiKato_PhotoByAlejandroRamirezOrozco.jpg" /> At Meridiano, Izumi Kato presents a new group of painted sculptures that expand upon the artist’s ongoing exploration of the natural world and the human experience. Kato approaches sculpture, painting, and installation not as fixed categories but as interrelated modes of inquiry. Each work is presented in direct dialogue with its surroundings, activating the unique architecture of Meridiano’s open-air spaces.&nbsp; <img width="7985" height="5326" width_o="7985" height_o="5326" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/194e5ec83773398d473152b75ab321a86faef352e5e3a8b009826699205c609e/11_WebResolution_Meridiano_IzumiKato_PhotoByAlejandroRamirezOrozco.jpg" data-mid="244488468" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/194e5ec83773398d473152b75ab321a86faef352e5e3a8b009826699205c609e/11_WebResolution_Meridiano_IzumiKato_PhotoByAlejandroRamirezOrozco.jpg" /> Kato’s artistic language is grounded in the act of making and the articulation of the dynamic interplay of material, process, and image. Forms are reduced to their essentials, surfaces are painted by hand, and underlying structures are often revealed rather than concealed. Throughout his practice, canvases find new ways to extend beyond the single rectangle, supports are made visible, and stitches are left exposed. These gestures play upon conventions of display, allowing structure and intuitive expression to exist in constant conversation. <img width="5464" height="8192" width_o="5464" height_o="8192" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/33797a1d21ce457cf44f06545107f87f4cbe65cf1c44cb335f8b49dc557558df/18_WebResolution_Meridiano_IzumiKato_PhotoByAlejandroRamirezOrozco.jpg" data-mid="244488622" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/33797a1d21ce457cf44f06545107f87f4cbe65cf1c44cb335f8b49dc557558df/18_WebResolution_Meridiano_IzumiKato_PhotoByAlejandroRamirezOrozco.jpg" /> The four new works exhibited at Meridiano have developed out of the artist’s numerous visits to the coast of Oaxaca. For Kato this area has been a place of exploration, friendship, respite, and inspiration. Its location along a narrow strip of desert between the mountains and the sea resonates with the elemental power of his art. Throughout the exhibition, Kato employs the geometry of Meridiano in innovative ways. Both vertical and horizontal axes are brought into tension, and works are positioned to engage light, shadow, and movement over time. Rather than occupying space passively, the works reorient the experience of the architecture. The viewer encounters Kato’s sculptures in succession and is compelled to look closely, to navigate the space attentively, and to register subtle shifts in perception. One approaches the space from a turning path through a garden of cacti and native flora, and the visitor first enters into a square courtyard fully open to the sky. A monumental stone sculpture awaits the viewer, reclined before the east wall of the space. This powerful hitogata, one of Kato’s signature humanoid figures, is comprised of a constellation of massive boulders, hand-painted by the artist in situ. Selected from the nearby mountains, each stone is chosen and placed with a thoughtfulness that recalls the principle of ishi-no-kowan-ni-shitagau—to follow the request of the stone. Its horizontality relates the recumbent figure to the earth and evokes stability and geologic time. From this square courtyard the viewer turns south towards the sound of the ocean, and enters a rectangular room proportioned according to sacred geometry, partially enclosed with a central oculus running north/ south, open to the sun and stars. Centered in the space hovers a five element hitogata sculpture in painted aluminum, suspended from above the open oculus. Neither grounded or ascendant, it occupies a quiet, liminal space between the earth and the sky. The vertical orientation evokes celestial forces, and as the sun moves from east to west, the light moves across the space and shadows shift across the sculpture, transforming the installation into an immersive measure of time. To be discovered to the left and right of the entrance to this room are two small-scale painted bronze figures, seated and watchful, reinforcing a mood of contemplation and stillness. Each rests upon a large local stone, again searched for and selected by the artist, evocative of mountains or islands and recalling the yorishiro from the Shinto traditions of Kato’s native Shimane prefecture. Kato’s work resists fixed meanings. He invites openness and interpretation, allowing the sculptures to have a new conversation with each viewer. At Meridiano, the interaction between material, form, and space creates an environment of focused attention—one that encourages reflection, slowness, and ongoing dialogue. <img width="5464" height="8192" width_o="5464" height_o="8192" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2199d70df2121e09c78c992410ee21a5dafca884f264a225f582e12e83882f05/09_WebResolution_Meridiano_IzumiKato_PhotoByAlejandroRamirezOrozco.jpg" data-mid="244488466" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2199d70df2121e09c78c992410ee21a5dafca884f264a225f582e12e83882f05/09_WebResolution_Meridiano_IzumiKato_PhotoByAlejandroRamirezOrozco.jpg" /> ABOUT THE ARTIST Izumi Kato was born in 1969 in Yasugi, a rural city in Shimane Prefecture surrounded by nature. After high school, he entered the Department of Painting at Musashino Art University. Alongside painting, he spent a significant amount of time playing music in a band. After graduation, while working and continuing to paint, he began pursuing life as an artist. Around the age of thirty, Kato began focusing on the human form as a central motif, titling nearly all his works Untitled. His figures are unclothed and appear without any background or objects that would imply a particular context. What Kato sought was not to tell stories or convey emotion through his figures but to explore how to construct a painting using hitogata—the human-like forms that would become central to his work. Embodying a primal, universal form of humanity founded less on reason than on intuition, these magical beings invite viewers to recognize themselves. A turning point came around 2003, when, still feeling his way forward, Kato began working with wood. He recalls that the act of creating sculptural works in three dimensions helped him reconsider the relationship between human f igures and the two-dimensional worlds they inhabit on canvas. In 2007, Kato’s invitation to the 52nd Venice Biennale marked his emergence as an internationally recognized artist. Through exhibitions held in Japan and across the world, Kato has garnered esteemed attention as an innovative artist. At the present day, Kato lives and works between Tokyo, Japan, and Hong Kong, China. <img width="5241" height="7854" width_o="5241" height_o="7854" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3b281c847b531091bf9baab94bb4cae1ddec9cf2f5401c6f28f9733852a76e8a/06_HighResolution_Meridiano_IzumiKato_PhotoByAlejandroRamirezOrozco.jpg" data-mid="244488464" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3b281c847b531091bf9baab94bb4cae1ddec9cf2f5401c6f28f9733852a76e8a/06_HighResolution_Meridiano_IzumiKato_PhotoByAlejandroRamirezOrozco.jpg" /> https://meridiano.art/Landing-Page Tue, 31 Jan 2023 22:33:28 +0000 Meridiano https://meridiano.art/Landing-Page