painter.kimjihun@gmail.com
Ma 26-Ⅱ-25, 2025
Oil and pigment on linen, 178 x 127 cm, 70 x 50 inches.
A strange life and space that evoke a subtle sense of fantasy are akin to a kind of “gap” that keeps us alive. It is through this gap that we come to understand ourselves and carefully weave the distances between us and others as we live.
Ma 04-I-25, 2025
Oil and pigment on linen, 178 x 127 cm, 71 x 50 inches.
Study for Anxiety, 2024
Oil on linen, 46 x 33 cm, 18 x 13 inches.
Beomgamsansoo W7, 2023
Oil on linen, 20 x 20 inches, 50 x 50 cm
Beomgamsansoo W6, 2023
Oil on linen, 20 x 20 inches, 50 x 50 cm
Ignored, 2023
Oil on wooden panel, 20 x 20 inches, 50 x 50 cm
Uncertainty, 2023
Oil on wooden panel, 20 x 20 inches, 50 x 50 cm
Unrest, 2023
Oil on wooden panel, 20 x 20 inches, 50 x 50 cm
Whenever I introduce myself in a gathering of new people, I have always refrained from calling myself an artist or creator. That’s because, rather than creating something entirely new, my work has been more about tracing and uncovering fragments already present in the world. With a belief in what constitutes a “good work,” I focus on assembling those fragments meticulously, guided by a sort of archaeological inclination. For this reason, I’ve always introduced myself as a visual art laborer. At times, when my work progresses smoothly, I feel an urge to capture those fleeting moments in some way. This video contains a glimpse of my voluntary labor, a small record of my process. As for the belief I mentioned earlier regarding what makes a good work, let me elaborate. First, a good work must not feel cliché. It should be produced through quality materials and a thoroughly considered process. Ultimately, it must be pleasing to both the eye and the heart. Therefore, the culprit that leaves a mark on the audience’s heart should never be the preface of a cryptic exhibition or myself—it must be the work itself. One day, I hope to create such a painting.
04.01.2025.23:08
Jihun Kim (b.1990, Seoul, South Korea)
Lives and works in Seoul, South Korea
Korean painter Jihun Kim (b.1990) collects disturbing beings and explores ways to taxidermize various narrative aspects through pictorial for mativeness created by the interaction between living things and landscapes. He goes through the process of recombining the most detailed units of life collected in various ways with the aesthetics of the sublime and filling them into unfamiliar narrative moments. Through this, he shows true anxiety in a very personal and abstract sense.
painter.kimjihun@gmail.com
Solo Exhibitions
2021 True-Blue, Gallery Spectrum, Seoul, South Korea
2020 Beauthful Disaster, Starfield, Hanam, South Korea
The painting remained material, Gallery Roun, Seoul, South Korea
2019 One's Lifetime, Can.verse10G45, Seoul, South Korea
2018 Survival:ism, Gallery ARTWA, Seoul, South Korea
2015 Rest, Gallery Sejong, Seoul, South Korea
2014 Instinctive Drive, Gallery 2tti, Seoul, South Korea
The Decolorized, Lespace 71, Seoul, South Korea
Portencial, Gallery Jireh, Paju, South Korea
Selected Group Exhibition
2021 Paradox, Gallery Azur, Madrid, Spain
Alone, and together, Gallery Insaart, Seoul, South Korea
2020 A win-win leap, Gallery Roun, Seoul, South Korea
Spectrum X-Mas, Gallery Spectrum, Seoul, South Korea
2019 Above All, Gallery A, Seoul, South Korea
2018 HAUNTING BEAUTY, Artistrian, Seoul, South Korea
Fear : X, Indie Art Hall GONG, Seoul, South Korea
2014 JW Young Art Award, Artspace H, Seoul, South Korea
The 5rd Artists of tomorrow, Gyeomjae Jeongseon Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea
2012 HOTIST Curator's choice, Gana Art center, Seoul, South Korea
Awards and Fellowships
2014 Prize Artists of tomorrow Gyeomjae Jungsun, Seoul, Korea
Fairs
2018 Zebra Art Fair, Alternative Space Noon, Suwon, South Korea
2012 Asian Students and Young Artists Art Festival, Seoul Train history station, Seoul, South Korea
Education
2015 MFA, Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea
2013 BFA, Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea