The City of West Hollywood presents the public art sculpture installation “Meringue” by artist Kiduck Kim on display through July 2022 installed on the western gateway to West Hollywood.
The sensual curves of Meringue invite touch, and the artist intends it to feel like a portal to travel without moving — that you travel when you come in contact with it, not physically, but in the imagination. The translucency of Meringue lets sunlight in to glow naturally during the daytime, and at night transforms Meringue into a mixing chamber of various light combinations. The artworks are made of high-density polyethylene and illuminated with energy-efficient LEDs.
Meringue’s lighting is designed to be changeable, and will display various colors in association with major City events or celebrations. Through June 30, 2021, Meringue will be illuminated in rainbow colors in celebration of LGBTQ Pride as part of the City’s One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival
The installation is located within the City’s Ocean-Friendly Garden in the traffic median of Santa Monica Boulevard, east of N. Doheny Drive. Median plantings in the location were designed in collaboration with the West Basin Water District using ecological principles and water conservation. Water-efficient plants, native to California, showcase the beauty of drought-tolerant plantings.
Award winning architect and artist Kiduck Kim explores the spectrums between art and architecture; digital fabrication; and handcrafted — man-made and natural, virtual and real — through geometric experimentations. Kiduck searches to find the underlying meaning of life by making the invisible visible.
First prize winner of Baku International Architecture Award endorsed by the UIA (International Union of Architects), recipient of the Next Generation Design Leader awarded by the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and exhibitor at the Venice Biennale in 2006, Kiduck’s work has been showcased internationally. A licensed architect, with a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, he honed his skills while working at Zaha Hadid Architects and Eisenman Architects, and, together with Frank Gehry, ran a graduate program at UCLA.
Meringue is an Art on the Outside project organized by the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division, part of the City’s Communications Department. The Art on the Outside program installs rotating temporary artworks on the City’s medians and in parks. It is anticipated to be on display through July 2022.
