Item NMC/0852 - may 13, 1998

Cheonae Kim is an artist based in Illinois. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Drawing from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL in 1983, and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting, Drawing and Printmaking from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL in 1986.
Her work deals with form created by horizontal and vertical lines overlaid on a grid system. The lines are symbolic of our daily experience, which consists of opposite elements. Horizontal lines signify the passive, vertical lines the active or living. These forms also refer to certain sounds or language.
Repetition is another important element in her work. Another overriding aspect is the maze. In many ways the human mind or condition can be very much like a maze. When you go through a passage or open a door, another appears. The painting and the repetition are like the maze. There is ongoing visual repletion, the similarity of the optical effect to sound, the endless winding through mental corridors. In effect, through the simplest of means - a vertical and a horizontal line in endless combinations.