Full Moon in a Tree, Wonsook Kim

Ryan Neubauer

Review

September 29, 2016

Contemporary Art

Full Moon in a Tree, bronze 2011.

Wonsook Kim

University Galleries College of Fine Arts

Beauty in Nature

Wonsook Kim: Lines of Enchantment is about the recurrences in archetypes: a shelter, a small craft on the water, a figure crossing a fallen tree trunk or a bridge-often seen in various combinations and states of transformation These universal symbols of life’s journey and its attendant longing also reflect Kim’s experience as a Korean transplanted to the Midwest to attend art school, then to New York to live as an artist, and since that time shuttling between these three locations.

            I have this obsession with trees. Trees to me represent more than just a plant; they represent life and grow with each individual. When they first start growing its rough and hard to keep them up straight so support is needed when they are growing. As it is through life when we are little we grow up being guided by our parents. Parents give us the guidance that we need and when that support is gone we continue to grow. As through our life, we experience new things branch out and learn new things. In learning new things we sometimes lose against an obstacle, but we always get up and learn from what we have lost. That is the beauty in trees, we against all odds they still grow though gravity is fighting them the whole time. We learn from falling down and having the strength to get back up.

            The moon to me is another thing that I enjoy. The moon is something so mysterious because of its brightness in the darkness. It’s the one thing that light’s up the night in the sky and whether it’s full or not its draws us in. The moon lures me into looking at its beauty like a flower lures a bee. It’s beauty shows by having to be alone in the sky at night. It stands to me the most dominant thing and the most confident thing. It doesn’t need the stars to help support it stands on its own, that’s the beauty of the moon.

            Full moon in a Tree is interesting to me because it’s combing two things that I view a beauty. Though the moon is in the tree not above it or beside it. It’s on the top right of the composition and being entangled by the tree itself. This piece scares me because to me this feels like the moon is being lost in our memories. Memories are a good thing but they can also be bad things. The good thing about memories they hold the things that are most precious such as your first kiss, family, friends and some much more. The bad thing is that memories are forgotten lost. It’s scary to lose something that is precious to a person because it feels like something has been taken from the body.