For the last four decades, 88-year-old Kim Yun-shin has wielded chainsaws as her "brush" to sculpt a series of freestanding wooden assemblages. The late-blooming artist experiences many of her "firsts" in her six-decade career this year: joint representation by two mega-galleries, Lehmann Maupin and Kukje Gallery, and her inclusion in the prestigious Venice Biennale's flagship International Art Exhibition. Newsis

The unexpected emergence of late bloomers is always a breath of fresh air in the art world. And it appears there's a new "kid" on the block: 88-year-old Kim Yun-shin.

For decades, the now octogenarian artist has wielded chainsaws as her signature "brush" to sculpt a series of freestanding wooden assemblages, whose intriguingly organic forms are reminiscent of sprouting plants, holy totem poles or human figures.

Yet, much of her creative toil remained hidden from the spotlight of the Korean art scene and market. Why? Because she had been a "missing" figure, quite literally, since her rather spontaneous relocation to Argentina in 1984.

It wasn't until her inaugural retrospective in Korea, "Towards Oneness," hosted at the Nam-Seoul Museum of Art last year, that brought belated attention to her idiosyncratic sculptural practice.

That's why it feels all the more surreal to Kim as she experiences many of her "major firsts" in her six-decade career this year: joint representation by two mega-galleries, Lehmann Maupin and Kukje Gallery, a solo exhibition in New York City, and even her inclusion in the prestigious Venice Biennale's flagship International Art Exhibition.

"It's the first time in my life that I've seen so many journalists here to see me. It could also very well be my last," said the spirited artist, donning a black trench coat and a pair of checkered Vans, at Kukje Gallery in central Seoul, where her solo show of 51 wooden sculptures and paintings opened. "I feel a bit overwhelmed at all these changes, but at the same time, I'm truly grateful for this final chapter of my life."

Kim Yun-shin has delved into the inherent properties of wood, exploring its textures and forms with a profound respect for its materiality. Her signature series, "Add Two Add One, Divide Two Divide One," which began in 1978, often exhibits a distinctive visual contrast between the soft inner wood revealed through her intuitive sawing and the textured surface of the bark that has been left intact. Yonhap

From Seoul to Buenos Aires

Born during Japanese colonial rule in 1935 in Wonsan, Gangwon Province in present-day North Korea as the youngest of six children, Kim crossed the border with her mother to the South following the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950.

She received her BFA from Hongik University, becoming one of the first women to formally train as a sculptor in the country. She then pursued further studies in sculpture and lithography at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1964.

But her globetrotting didn't stop there. Two decades later, despite her stable career as a university art professor, she decided to travel halfway across the globe to South America.

So, why Argentina, of all places?

Buenos Aires was not Paris or New York. It wasn't among a handful of cities that were on the radar of the modern Korean art world, where the creatives were still struggling to find their voice amid military dictatorship, postwar reconstruction and breakneck-paced economic growth. The artist herself had no idea where the country was until her niece, who had moved there earlier, invited her for a brief visit.

Upon her arrival, what immediately caught her eyes were the endless stretches of flat land and the dense, towering trees — an unimaginable sight in Korea at the time, where large swathes of the woodland were destroyed during the war.

A sense of rejuvenation began to fill her — a feeling that she hadn't experienced in a long time in a country in postwar survival mode.

"I was previously in the collective mindset of trying to survive in the land that has been razed to the ground. But being in this place, I felt so peaceful and calm," she recalled.

She knew that choosing to stay behind in this part of the world ran the risk of gradually being forgotten in the art scene in her motherland. But it was also a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get her hands on hardy, robust materials she had only dreamed of — from algarrobo and quebracho to palo santo wood.

Ultimately, Kim decided to make Buenos Aires, the land pulsating with a new rhythm and vitality, her adopted hometown.

Installation view of Kim Yun-shin's eponymous solo exhibition at Kukje Gallery in central Seoul / Courtesy of Kukje Gallery

Wooden dialogue

Over the next four decades, she delved into the inherent properties of wood, exploring its textures and forms with a profound respect for its materiality. It was during this time that her signature series, "Add Two Add One, Divide Two Divide One," which began in 1978, reached its full expression.

The title not only serves as her own geometric interpretation of the Eastern philosophy of Yin and Yang, centered around the idea of balancing opposing tendencies, but reflects her lifelong communion with nature.

"Words cannot express how much I love trees. They stand silent, yet they are very much living and animated beings. I kept pondering how I could keep their energy alive in my work until this primal concept of unity and division dawned on me," the artist noted. "It's about the moment when the material and I become one. [Trees are reborn as sculptures, and simultaneously,] I am also conceived as another life."

Kim's process begins with days of observing the freshly arrived wood, focusing on its natural scent, "muscular" texture and solidity. Only when this stage is complete does she pick up the chainsaw to carve away at the material.

The results often exhibit a distinctive visual contrast between the soft inner wood revealed through her intuitive sawing and the textured surface of the bark that has been left intact.

Kim Yun-shin's paintings — a kaleidoscopic mix of vibrant hues and free-floating geometric shapes — continue the philosophy that has guided her sculptural practice. Yonhap

In recent years, Kim Yun-shin has increasingly directed her energy towards integrating sculpture and painting, applying striking colors to her wooden assemblages to produce new "painted sculptures." Courtesy of Kukje Gallery

In many ways, her paintings — a kaleidoscopic mix of vibrant hues and free-floating geometric shapes — continue the philosophy that has guided her sculptural practice. Their rough-hewn surface is accentuated by the techniques of addition and reduction, as she scrapes off paint with a palette knife or applies pigments to thinly sliced pieces of wood and stamps them onto the canvas.

In recent years, the artist has increasingly directed her energy towards integrating sculpture and painting, applying striking colors to her wooden assemblages.

These new "painted sculptures" often incorporate found and recycled wood from her surroundings — the only materials accessible to her during mandatory quarantine imposed by the pandemic — thus signaling a new phase of her "Add Two Add One, Divide Two Divide One" series.

And at age 88, her spirit of experimentation remains undiminished. It appears that it will be years before she is ready to set down her chainsaw.

"I want to be remembered as 'an artist of all four directions.' Whether I go east, west, south or north, I approach my work with the same heart," she said.

"Kim Yun Shin" runs through April 28 at Kukje Gallery.