Tang Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition of Kim Lim, “Teeth and Tenderness,” at our Bangkok space from March 15 to April 20, 2025.  This exhibition will showcase the artist’s twelve newest artworks and artistic exploration.

Kim Lim has created a serene garden on her canvas, a landscape woven with branches, grass, and vibrant color fields that encircle and protect unease and sensitive caution, organizing speech and confession.  Within this gentle scenery lies not only vulnerability but also a soft yet resilient strength. Under a colorful sky supported by umbrella-like mushrooms and intersecting tree trunks, amidst vines as delicate as silk threads and entangled leaves, sharp lines are accentuated by delicate forms, revealing teeth as clear as geometric dividers.  Amidst the warmth of the imagery, the appearance of teeth pierces through the soft hues, akin to a conspiracy of tenderness and violence. The tiny rows of teeth and the multi-layered depth of the landscape collectively point to the spiritual tension of breaking free from constraints, as metaphorically suggested by the artist.

When Alice falls into the chaotic, magical world, the girl in the blue dress traversing the looking-glass world sheds the social armor of the "obedient lady" and experiences a deeper sense of freedom. In the artwork, the imagery of teeth embodies a stubborn resistance born from fragility. In the artist's narrative experiment, every vulnerable creature is softened and diffused within protection, possessing both the cold hardness to confront all things and the crisis of dissolving fragility.  This hardness also bears the marks of tenderness left behind. The symbol of teeth is not only a resistance to the traces of trauma but also a structural support and a crucial element in breaking through the confines of imprisonment. Isn't this a form of "inner freedom"? In the communal relationships of modern society, connections are not only tied to specific work and geographic contexts but also to technical and derivative relationships. Martha Nussbaum argues that the foundation of a good life lies in its vulnerability, rooted in realms beyond control and dependent on activities governed by others.  Under the pervasive impact of digital technological power, the sensitivity of individual consciousness awakening is amplified amidst the rapid and fluid changes of life. The fissures in existence are not merely a matter of luck or fortuitous circumstances but also the conditions and social power relations that inflict harm and confinement.

The Courage to Roar​​| 121.5 x 121.5 cm | Oil on canvas | 2025

In Kim Lim's creations, every step leaves traces that simultaneously bring destruction and renewal, embedding vulnerability and dependence within a soft yet resilient self-protection. The "goodness" of each individual is not isolated; it is deeply interconnected with the "goodness" of others. The teeth depicted on the canvas are not relics of violence; rather, the courage to break through fragility always grows where confinement is most severe. True resilience lies in the ability to remain soft amidst cracks. Tenderness need not ally with fragility; it can wear the armor of thought. Her work weaves the possibility of redemption into every firm bite, each one gentle yet powerful.