Helena Parada Kim

Helena Parada Kim was born to a Korean nurse and a Spanish immigrant worker. She was brought up in Cologne, Germany. She studied art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf where her artistic capability gained

recognition as a disciple of Professor Peter Doig, a world-renowned artist. Deeply touched by photographs featuring Korean nurses dispatched to Germany that she saw in her mother’s photo album, she became deeply interested in the history and culture of Korea. Through this exploration into her own Korean identity Parada Kim began tackling subject matters such as Korean nurses, hanbok (Korean traditional clothing), and ancestral rites.

Parada Kim has produced a variety of series with the subject matter of the 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 from an individual to a collective history. To the artist, the act of executing paintings with Korean subject matter is a long process of searching for her identity as a Korean, but to other Koreans, it may serve as an opportunity to pictorially remind themselves of facets of Korean history less familiar in contemporary times. Noted Renaissance painters such as Tiziano Vecelli and Diego Velazquez as well as 17th century realist Dutch still lives profoundly influence Parada Kim’s work. The motifs of her paintings are faithful to traditional painting techniques while laying out aspects of contemporary society and history. Placed throughout her paintings, these motifs work as significant clues to into the history of an age and reflect on specific events identified by the artist.

b.1982, Cologne, Germany (currently lives and works in Berlin)

EDUCATION

2002 - 2009 Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
2005 - 2009 Student of Prof. Peter Doig
2009 Masterstudent of Prof. Peter Doig

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2019

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

2018

Ausencias, Centro Cultural Coreano, Madrid, Spain
ANDREAS BLANK & HELENA PARADA KIM, 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

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2018

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

2017

The king of table, entretempo Kitchen Gallery, Berlin, Germany
The room of desires, raumwerk, Munich, Germany
Weinosten, Hilbert Raum, Berlin, Germany

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

Junge Düsseldorfer Maler, Kunsthalle Koblenz, Koblenz, Germany

2005

‘Eine Woche junge Kunst’ im Mediapark 5, Cologne, Germany
Maxims Art Award, Cologne, Germany 2004 1. Art Award of Kö-Galerie, Dusseldorf
Lovells Art Award, Dusseldorf, Gemany 2002 ‘Passion’- vierzehn Kreuzwegstationen“ , Basilika St. Aposteln, Cologne , Germany