Helena Parada Kim

Born to a Korean nurse and a Spanish immigrant worker, Parada Kim was brought up in Cologne, Germany. Deeply touched by photographs featuring Korean nurses dispatched to Germany in her mother’s photo album, she began tackling subject matters such as Korean nurses, ancestral rites, and especially ‘hanbok,’ exploring the personal stories pertaining to this traditional dress. The hanbok in her paintings ushers viewers to a specific era and moment, extending the arena of exploration to collective history.

The artist’s interest in plants and gardening went hand in hand with her desire to paint them. The water lilies as well as the dandelion, rhododendron and hollyhocks which are depicted in her paintings are almost banal plants in their ubiquity. But it is precisely their supposed mundanity that provides the particular stimulus for the painter to extract the mysterious and almost inscrutable qualities from these plants.

Helena Parada Kim (1982-) studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, graduating as a Meister student of Peter Doig. She has had a number of solo exhibitions including ‘CACHÉ’(CHOI&LAGER Gallery, Cologne, 2021), ‘Wasser, Portraits, Schatten’(Neue Galerie Galdbeck, Gladbeck, 2019), and ‘Ausencias’(Centro Cultural Coreano, Madrid, Spain, 2018), and has participated in various group exhibitions including ‘MIND·FULL·NESS’ (Villa de Parnell, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea, 2022), ‘FLOWER’(CHOI&CHOI Gallery, Seoul, 2022), ‘Korean Eye 2020’(Lotte Museum of Art, Seoul, 2020), and ‘Please return to Busan Port’(Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Vestfossen, Norway, 2016). Parada Kim lives and works in Berlin.

독일 베를린에 거주하며 활동하고 있는 헬레나 파라다 김은 이민 1세대인 한국인 간호사 어머니와 스페인 아버지 사이에서 태어나 독일을 쾰른에서 자랐다. 다양한 정체성과 문화적인 배경 속에서 성장한 헬레나는 우연히 보게 된 어머니의 옛 앨범 속 파독 간호사들의 모습에서 영감을 받게 되었고, 이후 어머니의 나라인 한국의 역사와 문화에 대해 큰 관심을 가지기 시작 하면서 파독 간호사, 한복, 제사 등의 한국적인 소재들을 자신의 작품에 담아내기 시작했다. 특히 그녀는 누군가가 입었던 ‘전통 한복’이 지니는 서정적이면서도 개인적인 스토리를 주제로 다양한 연작을 제작했다. 그의 그림 속에 등장하는 한복 은 한 개인의 역사에 대한 탐구에서 시작하여 집단의 역사로 확장되었던 특정한 시대와 순간으로 관람객들을 인도한다.

또한 몇 년 전부터 베를린 작업실 뒤에 방치된 정원을 우연히 돌보기 시작한 작가는 자연을 다룬 정물화에 심취해 다양한 식물과 꽃들이 주는 분위기를 캔버스에 옮긴다. 이 아름다운 정물화들은 피고 지는 꽃처럼 아름답지만 동시에 그 끝이 존재하는 우리의 삶에 대한 명상을 이끌어 낸다.

헬레나 파라다 김(1982-)은 뒤셀도르프 쿤스트아카데미에서 미술을 전공하며 피터 도이그의 마이스터 쉴러로서 수석 졸업했다. 그는 'CACHE'(초이앤라거 갤러리, 쾰른, 2021), 'Water, Portraits, Shadows'(글라드백미술관, 글라드백, 2019), 'Ausencias'(한인문화센터, 마드리드, 2018) 등 다수의 개인전을 개최했으며, 'MIND·FULL·NESS'(빌라 드 파넬, 용인, 2022), 'FLOWER'(초이앤초이 갤러리, 서울, 2022), 'Korean Eye 2020'(롯데미술관, 서울, 2020), '돌아와요 부산항에’(베스트포센 미술관, 노르웨이, 2016) 등 다양한 단체전에 참여하였다. 파라다 김은 현재 베를린에서 거주하며 작업 활동 중이다.

Born in 1982, Cologne, Germany

Lives and works in Berlin, Germany

EDUCATION

2002 – 2009 Kunstakademie Düsseldorf

2005 – 2009 Student of Prof. Peter Doig

2009 Masterstudent of Prof. Peter Doig

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023

Zwischenräume, Museum for East Asian Art, Cologne

2022

Helena Parada Kim, Galleria Patricia Armocida, Milano

2021

‘CACHÉ’, Choi & Lager Gallery, Cologne
‘AQUILEGIA’, Villa Angeli Pegognaga, Italy

2019

‘Wasser, Portraits, Schatten’ Neue Galerie Galdbeck, Gladbeck

2018

‘Ausencias’, Centro Cultural Coreano, Madrid, Spain

2018

HELENA PARADA KIM & ANDREAS BLANK, CHOI&LAGER Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2016

Helena Parada-Kim with Gorka Mohamed, Choi&Lager Gallery, Cologne, Germany

2015

‘In Mother ́s Hanbok’, Galerie Tristan Lorenz, Frankfurt a.M.,Germany

2010

‘Helena Parada’, Galerie Bugdahn und Kaimer, Düsseldorf, Germany

2009

‘Die Gesandten’, Kunstverein Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen, Germany

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS (since 2010)

2023

HUMAN, CHOI&CHOI Gallery, 2023
From Berlin to Seoul: Crossing Horizons, CHOI&CHOI Gallery, HORI Artspace, AIF Lounge, Seoul and
Bermel von Luxburg Gallery, Berlin

2022

FLOWER, CHOI&CHOI Gallery, Seoul
Girl Meets Girl, Vestfossen Museum, Norway

2020

Korean Eye 2020, Seoul, Korea

2018

NON SENSE MUSIC # 2 - BORDERS, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin

2017

The king of table, entretempo Kitchen Gallery, Berlin
The room of desires, raumwerk, Munich, Germany Weinosten, Hilbert Raum, Berlin
2016
‘Please return to Busan Port’, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Vestfossen, Norway (collaboration
curated by Choi&Lager Gallery)
Participation at Art Busan with Choi& Lager Gallery, Busan, Korea
Participation at ‘Cofa(Cologne Fine Art)’ Art Fair with Choi& Lager Gallery, Cologne, Germany
Works in the Penz Collection, Sammlung Penz, Berlin, Germany
‘Bab-Sang Story’, Entretempo Kitchen Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2015

ASIA NOW PARIS Asian Contemporary Platform, with Choi&Lager Gallery, Paris, France
‘Neujahrspunsch’, Galerie Tristan Lorenz, Frankfurt a.M., Germany Participation at Art Karlsruhe with
Galerie Tristan Lorenz, Karlsruhe, Germany

2014

‘Hängengeblieben’, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen, Germany Private and public
Portrait-commissions

2012

‘NO.1’ Kunstakademie Düsseldorf at Sky Office, curated by Julia Ritterskamp, Düsseldorf, Germany

2010

Participation at Art Cologne with Galerie Bugdahn und Kaimer, Cologne, Germany
‘Self-Consciousness’ curated by Peter Doig and Hilton Als, Veneklasen and Werner, Berlin, Germany
‘Berlin Summer Interval’, Bugdahn and Kaimer, Düsseldorf, Germany ‘SHARED.DIVIDED.UNITED’,
Kunstverein Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Germany

2009

SHARED.DIVIDED.UNITED Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin, Germany
‘Selected...continued’, Galerie Bugdahn und Kaimer, Düsseldorf, Germany ‘Werke’, Staedtische Galerie
Kaarst (group show), Germany

2008

Klasse Peter Doig in der Zeche Zollverein-Mischanlage, Essen, Germany ‘Woher kommen? Was sind
wir? Wohin gehen wir?’, Galerie Arteversum, Düsseldorf, Germany

2007