Born in South Korea and working in Italy, Minjung Kim is well-known for her layered translucent ink works. Using traditional Korean Hanji paper in her paintings, the flow and perceived three-dimensionality of her works evoke a sense of serenity that embraces light and space. The pleasing color palette is subdued and gentle while maintaining a powerful representation of beauty and commentary on her vision of the world.
Minjung Kim’s work connects deeply with the likes of James Turrell, the first artist exhibited by the gallery.
A sense of abundant space and cosmos is a characteristic shared between Kim and Turrell. Interestingly, in its meditative gestures, Kim’s work depicts this sentiment through marking Hanji paper with water, inks made of smoke or natural pigments, and cut-paper collages.
Kim's Korean heritage paired with her study of Western art while in Italy allows for her work to flourish through elements of both cultural spheres, and this successful coalescence is clearly brought forward in Kim’s captivating paintings.
Over the past two decades, she has presented her works in Italy, Switzerland, China, the UK, the US, and Israel, among other countries. She has been the subject of solo exhibitions at renowned museums around the world, including Macro (Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma), Rome, Italy (2012); Hermès Foundation, Singapore (2017); Langen Foundation, Neuss, Germany (2019); and Hill Art Foundation, New York, US (2020).
She introduced her works in Korea in the exhibition Traces (2015) at OCI Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea; and the international invitational exhibition Making the Void, Filling the Void (2018) at Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea. Kim's presentation at The Light, The Shade, The Depth at Palazzo Caboto in Venice, Italy, curated by Jean-Christophe Ammann, received particularly enthusiastic international reviews. She has also participated in the Gwangju Biennale in 2004 and 2018.
Her works are included in the collections of major institutions such as the British Museum in London, UK; Hill Art Foundation and Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in New York, Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey, Rhode Island School of Design Museum in Rhode Island, US, among others.
