Artwork Page for Standing

Details / Information for Standing

Standing

1993

Kim Jongku 김종구

(Korean, b. 1963)
Culture
Korea
Medium
Solid steel and wire
Measurements
height: 168 cm (66 1/8 in.); Diameter: 8 cm (3 1/8 in.)
Weight: 8.7 kg
Credit Line
Gift of Celeste Myers 2024.42
Copyright
© Kim Jongku
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

Instead of the most common casting technique, Kim chose grinding a block of steel.

Description

The artist ground a block of steel to sculpt human figures. Instead of the most common casting technique, Kim chose grinding to demonstrate intense physical labor that deeply involved civilization.

Standing was one of the three sculptures Kim presented to an outdoor exhibition in London in 1997, but all three of them were stolen once. While the other two were long lost, this work was fortuitously recovered. Kim recounts that traumatic incident as his moment to rethink steel powder, the leftover of grinding, as the primary media for his later works. In this sense, Standing bears a poignant moment of the artist’s departure for new artistic possibilities.
A steel and wire sculpture depicts an extremely elongated humanoid figure suspended by a thin wire. A dark-brown cylindrical head sits atop a long, tapering neck. Their narrow torso features a smooth, spindle-shaped, dark-brown center with needle-like arms pointing straight down. Below, a flared base leads to two long, parallel legs. Tiny, rounded feet terminate the spindly silhouette as it hangs motionless against a neutral, vertical gradient.

Standing

1993

Kim Jongku

(Korean, b. 1963)
Korea

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