Ji Eun Lim

Contradiction: Contemplation in Quarantine

"All the process of my work stimulated me to contemplate my values which had dominated me and ones which were not. I might be overcoming, changing, adapting, or compromising myself towards what I hadn’t actually valued." ─ Ji Eun Lim

Ji Eun Lim loves to contemplate herself in silence. She says, “as a human, who will still be incomplete until dying, I need to reflect, consider, and be aware of myself to grow up.” She has been profoundly attempting to look at herself with an objective lens. All the process of work stimulated her to contemplate what she values and ones which were not.

The ideas, “used materials” and “reuse,” are the gear of her cardboard creation. Lim said that she was able to easily collect a lot of cardboard from her online shopping packages, where she realized how her art philosophy contradicted itself by trying to use sustainable materials from what she had over consumed.

[Ji Eun Lim, No.1, 2020, Marker and colored pencil on cardboard, 15 x 40 cm]

“Reuse” in her artwork represents the ideas, considering the environment and life's simplicity. About her perspective on “reuse”, she mentioned that her philosophy of life is often tested by her old habits of excessively consuming resources.

[Ji Eun Lim, No.4, 2020, Acrylic and cardboard cutouts on cardboard, 29 x 29 cm]

[Ji Eun Lim, No.5, 2020, Acrylic and cardboard cutouts on cardboard, 28 x 28 cm]

“Compared to my perspective of artwork, focusing on 'reuse,' which represents both simplicity of life and the environment preferred, I am a person who is strongly pervaded by materialism in my real life. Subconsciously, I could have implied my contradictory aspects in all of my cardboard works.”

[Ji Eun Lim, No.8, 2020, Paint marker on cardboard, 14.7 x 12.7 cm (each)]

"Just like being black and white, I have a double-sideness to myself."

[Ji Eun Lim, No.6, 2020, Acrylic on cardboard, 18 x 18 cm (each)]

Lim thinks all humans can relate to this concept of polarity in terms of saying one thing and doing another. She described one thing that she learned throughout her life; there is nothing that she can be too sure about and judge too quickly. But, in contrast, she said she unconsciously did all the time. Her contemplation of it led her to explore a concept of contradiction with her incompleteness.

[Ji Eun Lim, No.10, 2020, Cardboard, 13.5 x 13.5 x 8.3 cm (each)]

Artwork

[Ji Eun Lim, No.9, 2020, Paint marker on cardboard, Dimensions variable]

[Ji Eun Lim, No.12, 2020, Acrylic on cardboard, 18 x 18 cm (each)]

[Ji Eun Lim, No.11, 2020, Paint marker on cardboard, 38 x 38 cm (each)]

[Ji Eun Lim, No.13, 2020, Paint marker cardboard cutouts on cardboard, 85 x 57 cm]

[Ji Eun Lim, No.18, 2020, Acrylic on cardboard paper-mâché, Dimensions variable]

Ji Eun Lim Bio