Artist Looks Through The Sky

Esthea Kim’s painting White Field 2, at first glance, could be a photograph of clouds or smoke, but its complex surface asks the viewer to take more than just one glance, to be drawn in. The more you look, the more you see: variations in colors and textures, bordering on movement. The sense of space and depth within the painting suggests something huge could be obscured by the smoky veil. What’s behind there? Threat or serenity? Or are the clouds all there is?

White Field 2 is part of ​“On Pause,” a solo exhibition of Esthea Kim’s work running now at City Gallery through March 30. Kim’s work has appeared in a few shows around New Haven in the past few years, from mActivity to Creative Arts Workshop; this is the largest so far, and offers the more comprehensive view yet of an artist, having found a luminous, engrossing direction, now seeing just how far she can go with it.

From the beginning of her painting career, Kim explored ways to manipulate the paint to ​“make it fuzzy around the edges,” she said. That started with quick brushwork, and continued with applying successive layers of paint to various parts of the canvas, some more transparent, some more opaque, as she built the painting on the canvas, creating complex textures.

“It sort of became my style,” Kim said.

Her initial inspiration for this approach to painting was ​“looking at sky,” she said. ​“I have some paintings early on that are just skyscapes — a lot of clouds and skies.” In her sculptures, she likewise found herself seeking to emulate ​“the essence of cloud.”

Why the sky?

“This could be one reason,” Kim said, after a pause. For a time she lived in the Midwest, in Missouri, and in the landscapes there, there was ​“nothing else to look at but the sky. There were no mountains, no ocean.” She also found the sky there to be dramatic, ​“fast-changing” from passing storms between periods of calm. ​“Sometimes you would see a wall of rain, a curtain of rain, and you’re driving into it — breaking into a wall of rain — and it was a bizarre experience.”

“I had to learn to look at the sky and predict the weather,” Kim said. ​“If a tornado is coming, you need to find a shelter to hide” — but if you were outside, ​“there’s nowhere to hide.” She recalled driving in the middle of the day and hearing sirens, and coming up with a place to be safe. ​“You’d see a few cars under a bridge, by the side of the road. But that’s not a lot of space, and not a very safe space either.” 

Noticing skyscapes for Kim ​“became really personal to me” to ​“protect myself, try to pay attention to surroundings, and pay attention to my time.” Those feelings came together as she worked on her paintings, and as she started showing her work.

And as the show demonstrates, Kim continues to explore her style. In her paintings, sculptures, and installations, she explores ​“how I can keep my work developing even further without losing the essence of it.” She has begun to incorporate textiles directly into her canvases, and has taken to embracing the ​“painterly accidents, like drips and dots” that happen in the course of painting. 

Her sculptures and paintings work together. One sculpture involves a wooden frame, the shadow of which she cast over a canvas to employ its shape in a painting. The two pieces together draw attention to the idea that both painting and sculpture ​“imply space,” she said. ​“Space is filled with air, air is filled with light,” and light and shadow can change over time in both. She is as interested in trying to paint and sculpt the void between and beyond the elements as the elements themselves. 

For Kim, all of the elements she deploys can be brought into a harmonious whole, by continuing to explore quiet tones, subtle shades in color. She is pleased, she said, when people tell her that they find her work soothing or calm. ​“My intention is not to disturb people with my work,” she said, ​“but provide a place for my meditation, my peacefulness — those intentions communicate.” They also can return her to her initial inspiration: the menace, the promise, the solace, all swirling around together in the air over our heads.

“On Pause” runs at City Gallery, 994 State St., through March 30. Visit the gallery’s website for hours and more information.