Komelia Okim

Komelia Okim is a Korean-American contemporary artist with over a half century of experience. Her work is so highly regarded by industry experts; she was recently featured in Metalsmith Magazine. Okim uses her vast experience to create both beautiful sculptures as well as jewelry pieces. Her work is abstract and contains sharp geometric shapes as well as soft elegant lines.
In 2013, Okim created a wall relief or wall sculpture titled Through the Space II. It is fixed to a white wall and rendered from steel, paint, oil stick, and crayon. By using both warm and cool colors, Okim was able to create a color balance within the composition of the piece. The voided negative space adds depth to the wall sculpture while adding a visual dimension to its overall composition. There is an
All the while, shape and an emphasis on negative space are the main elements that keep the two pieces related to one another. This definitely brings forth the idea that jewelry is sculpture rendered with the intentions of being worn. This idea of jewelry being a wearable sculpture assists in supporting the ideologies and concepts of both art forms. There is a rationale why jewelry is the size it is, the color it is, and the materials it is rendered from and the same can be said about sculptural pieces. Analyzing both pieces, the audience is able to get a feel for why artists render their pieces the way they do. If the pendant contained the same colors as the wall sculpture, it would be too overpowering to view while being displaying on a human body. The opposite can probably be said regarding the wall sculpture if it was rendered out of gold plate and black paint. It may not command the audience’s attention the way it does with the original colors. This is a perfect example of how jewelry and sculpture can be so closely linked together but at the same time are worlds apart from one