Lot 18 – Minyoung Kim – Night Willow

About  

Minyoung Kim was born in Seoul in 1989, and lives and works in London. Graduating from The Slade School of Fine Art in 2021, Kim also holds an MFA in printmaking and a BA in Western Painting from Sungshin Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea. 

Kim’s work mirrors her inner-most feelings, ones that language fails to express. By using different materials such as oil or acrylic on canvas, dry mediums on paper, ceramics, animations and so on, she portrays, in a soft manner, ironic scenes that combine what she refers to as strange but cute elements. It’s in this ambivalence, both light and serious, that she explores and reveals her inner self. 

Education  

2019-2021   

MFA Painting, The Slade School of Fine Art (Distinction), London, UK 

2012-2014   

MFA Printmaking, Sungshin Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea 

2008-2012  

BA Western Painting, Sungshin Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea 

Solo Exhibitions 

2023  

Mischievous Dreamer, Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK 

2021  

Night Fever, Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK 

Moon Garden, Aoutgallery, Beirut, Lebanon 

Group Exhibitions 

2024   

Vitrine, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montreal, Canada 

Humour Me, Haricot Gallery, London, UK 

Contemporary Domesticity, Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK  

Ouverture, A I’inconnu, Palm Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan 

Inner Voyage Out, (Duo show), OTI gallery, Hong Kong  

2023  

Acts of Will, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Toronto, Canada  

Moon, Enari Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands 

From The Other Side ACCA, Melbourne, Australia   

Through My Window, JPS Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 

Painters - London, Half Gallery, New York, USA  

Beach, Nino Mier Gallery, New York, USA  

Secret Garden, Wilder Gallery, London, UK 

Room With A View, Hashimoto Contemporary, New York, USA  

New Origins - Level Unlock, Andrea Festa, Rome, Italy   

Homecoming, Gallery 2, Tel Aviv, Israel 

2022 

Landscape, Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK 

Landscape, Woaw gallery, Hong Kong 

CAN Ibiza Art Fair with Aoutgallery, Ibiza, Spain 

Intimacy, Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK 

Colour, Culture, Feelings, Ojiri gallery, London, UK 

Assemble, V.O Curations, London, UK 

Skin of Your Teeth, Crypt gallery, London, UK 

Gentle Distraction, Aoutgallery, Beirut, Lebanon 

Statement about AOAP Submitted Artwork 

"I explore ideas around the surreal and uncanny. Mischievous feline protagonists are used to subvert or accelerate/exaggerate dangerous and precarious situations, imbuing everyday domestic settings and scenarios with dark humour and animated surrealism. Snakes, flowers fish and anthropomorphic food items also play recurring characters alongside the black cats, in more expansive spaces such as moonlit landscapes and oceans. Though seemingly safe and idyllic, mystery, threat and danger are implicit, as depicted in shadows cast by hand-held knives, sibilant snakes and eclectic mythological creatures and rituals.  

Inspiration takes the form of dreamlike images, ideals and tendencies portrayed in social media, films and animation, particularly via the oral and written traditions of folklore, myth, fairytale and poetry. I take such visuality and overlay it with storytelling and nuance sprung from the dualities of my own memories, feelings of anxiety, regret, desire, dreams and the inexpressible which resides deep within me."