Unit 2: London – Berlin – Klein-Warnow

I arrived in London in January 2020. Being finally in London was a great feeling. It was very inspiring and exciting to live in a new city, where every step you take bring you in street you did not know before. I discovered the City and took long walk in every direction. When I went to a room visiting in Clapham, I felt home immediately. London was a very productive and intesive time for me. I went to the studio in the chelsea college almost everyday and went to see a lot exhibitions. Most remarkable for me were probably the Exhibtion “Radical Figures” at Whitechapel Gallery aswell as the William Blake Exhibition in the Tate.

Having the oppurtunity to study one term Fine Arts in the MA Course of the Chelsea College was such a great thing for me. I met a lot of interesting kind and nice people trough the course and learned a lot about art trough the talk with the other students and with the teachers. It is really sad that due the Covid-19 epidemic college was closed from march on, although of course it was the best and most responsible decision.

The decision to leave London earlier than planned due to the uncertain situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic was very difficult. I felt very comfortable in London. Due to the uncertainty in the situation at that time, I finally decided to return to Berlin early. I hope I will come back to London soon. I miss the City a lot!

When I first arrived in Berlin, I was a bit down and disoriented. Without further ado, I rented a studio in Berlin-Wedding and continued my artistic practice. The studio is very sunny, spacious and large and I am still happy today that I was able to find this wonderful studio in such a short time. The fact that I had the opportunity to go to the studio every day during the first Corona Wave was worth a lot.

The change of location, the many impressions in London and through the new Corona situation were probably also reflected in the new works.

Because I didn’t have a studio in Berlin in the beginning, after I came back from London, I started making a lot of drawings on paper. These works on paper with different materials I still do regularly today.

In June I got the great opportunity to life and work four weeks at KuBa: Kulturbahnhof as an artist in residency in Klein-Warnow in Brandenburg, Germany. It was very nice to be this close to the nature for such a long time. The forrest was 2 minutes away by foot from the residency and it was really nice to relax and calm down – especially in all the uncertainty with the Covid 19 Situation. Being away from Berlin gave me the chance to focus on my work and so I painted a lot in those four weeks. I also experimented with Monoprints and continued my drawings. It was also a very precious and special time for me due to the fact, that this was my first experience as an artist in residency.

Now I am back in Berlin at my Studio and I continue my work and prepare my participation for my degree show in July 2021 at the UdK Berlin. I am very happy and thankful, that I was nominated for the scholarship program for artists from the German foundation Cusanuswerk e.V., so I can focus on my work even more.

Please find more works and information here:

http://frankyjimin.com