Yool Kim is a contemporary Korean artist based in Seoul. After graduating from Hongkik University Graduate School of Industry with a degree in Colour Studies in 2015, Kim has since been organising her emotions through her artwork – resulting in deeply thoughtful and folk style figurative paintings.
Yool Kim in her studio.
As she navigates ideas of identity and the subconscious, her works take on a figurative form that features a single face repeated many times – suggesting a series of selves and Kim’s own reflection of her self-expression. This suggests ideas of flourishing and transformation as each version of Kim holds each other in understanding. These past selves come together in compassion and empathy to complete one whole in the present.
There is a sense of grief in reflecting on these past personalities that is similar to mourning what once was. However, growth and change is an inescapable fate and so the bittersweet mortality of human nature is also present in her works. This incredibly personal yet universal experience creates an attachment between the viewer and the characters inside the paintings.
In Your Arms, Acrylic on Linen Canvas, 116.7 x 90.9 cm, 2023
These deep intimacies that are shared with the viewer is a credit to Kim’s engagement with human relationships. Her ever-increasing focus on her connection to the world around her allows her to engage in the visual discourses that surround humankind’s interrelatedness to each other.
Kim’s works have a sense of harmony and balance as the patterns and figures overlap each other, but never with a sense of chaos. Their delicate compositions instead offer the viewer clarity. Kim’s paintings are considered and studied works, mirroring triangular art historical compositions that use these lines of vision to give the viewer a sense of depth and dynamic presence.
Yool Kim has exhibited her ‘Play Factory’ series at the Court Tree Collective in the United States. Her work has also been in various group shows including the previous ‘HERO’ exhibition here at RHODES – we are delighted to be hosting Kim’s first UK solo show ‘Kinship’, 2nd Feb - 2nd March 2024.
For more information, please email info@rhodescontemporary.com
