After the exhibition in MyOwnGallery in 2019 that marks his return in Italy after 30 years, the Korean artist Kim Seung Hwan is designing a great installation of monumental sculptures and a furniture collection that we will see during Milan Design Week 2021, at the Superdesign Show which continues its museum-like contaminations. From August 22, however, a new solo show in Udine.

You began your artistic career in the 90’s, in Pietrasanta. You won the Critic Award during the very first edition of MiArt. How has this all-Italian beginning influenced you?
I was inspired and influenced by the works of modern Italian sculptors. While I was working in the atelier in Pietrasanta, I met several International and Italian artists and I am pleased to have seen some of the finest marble works. I was also excited about thinking of Michelangelo working in the same place as me...

After the exhibition in MyOwnGallery in 2019 that marks his return in Italy after 30 years, the Korean artist Kim Seung Hwan is designing a great installation of monumental sculptures and a furniture collection that we will see during Milan Design Week 2021, at the Superdesign Show which continues its museum-like contaminations. From August 22, however, a new solo show in Udine.

You began your artistic career in the 90’s, in Pietrasanta. You won the Critic Award during the very first edition of MiArt. How has this all-Italian beginning influenced you?
I was inspired and influenced by the works of modern Italian sculptors. While I was working in the atelier in Pietrasanta, I met several International and Italian artists and I am pleased to have seen some of the finest marble works. I was also excited about thinking of Michelangelo working in the same place as me.

You exhibited your sculptures all over the world, but you only come back to Italy 30 years later, with “ORGANISM AND HARMONY” exhibition in MyOwnGallery curated by Martina Corgnati. What has this return to origins meant for you?
Although my work in Korea and other countries was interesting too, I think there were limits in understanding the depth of sculpture. I felt it also 30 years ago, but I think my understanding of formative language was not comprehensive. I'm very lucky that Martina Corgnati has curated the exhibition and we are working on further encouraging projects.  A solo exhibition from August 22nd to 20th September 2020 at Braida Copetti  sculpture park in Udine. And next year from July 7th in Museo Messina in Milan. For this continuity, I give all the credit to my exhibition in MyOwnGallery. I thank director Gisella Borioli and the whole board of Superstudio.

Almost all your art work at the beginning were called Explore Eternality whereas recently to this denomination, Organism is added, to define not-figurative sculptures and monuments yet inspired by modularity, geometrical and plastic recurring details. What is the evolution and the common denominator of so much apparently different sculptures?
After graduating from the College of Arts at Korea, I have been working on concrete works for about 20 years. Through the process of deformation, the works have been simplified and the abstract form came to life, and I thought that I had to look for a change towards abstraction. Though the concrete and abstract forms are different, I think they have a similar order in content. I think that the principle of attitude that motivates in the form of nature is something in common.

We will see your first furniture collection during Milan Design Week at Superstudio Più in addition to your astonishing great sculptures in outdoor spaces. Why did you decide to approach design? Where is this new project born and how does it connect to your previous artistic research?
There was no special reason why I started with furniture, but I had a desire to express my formative language through a defined form such as furniture. The genre has a different form of beauty in comparison to sculpture, but they also have many similar contents. Therefore, whether it is a sculpture or a piece of furniture, I don’t find many differences in the process of seeking the form.