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
Royal Hanbok | 2021, Oil on linen, 150x200 cm
Binyeo II | 2021, Oil on linen, 53x53 cm
Blue Hanbok Study | 2021, Oil on paper, 21x29 cm
San Geronimo | 2021, Oil on linen, 250x180 cm
Hanbok in red and white | 2020, Oil on linen, 160x110 cm
Butterbur | 2020, Oil on linen, 150x110 cm
Sonae’s Chima | 2019, Oil on linen, 170x130 cm
Hosta | 2019, Oil on linen, 200x150 cm