Minyoung Kim (b.1989, Seoul, South Korea) is a London-based artist who creates fictions depicting everyday scenarios imbued with animated surrealism and dark humour. Featuring recurring characters such as black cats, snakes, mermaids, fish and anthropomorphic food items, Kim’s imaginary fables take place in domestic spaces as well as moonlit landscapes and oceans. Though seemingly safe and idyllic, mystery and danger lurk around the corner, as depicted by shadows cast by hand-held knives, slithering snakes, and strange mythological creatures and rituals. Kim’s self-proclaimed “creepy-cute” scenes evoke laughter with “bizarre, eerie, mysterious feelings” as a form of visual self-reflection and expression of her innermost thoughts and anxieties.
Working primarily on unstretched cotton canvases lend Kim’s works a sense of freedom, unrestrained by wooden frames and traditional art historical practice of painting on canvas. The application of paint on loose, un-primed surfaces enables Kim to replicate the patterns and textures in her preparatory drawings whilst also creating a softened, blurry effect evocative of distant memories, fading dreams, and the uncanny.
Minyoung Kim 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 solo exhibition Night Fever with Taymour Grahne Projects (London), will be the inaugural show launching the gallery's third space ‘The Artist Room by Taymour Grahne Projects’. Minyoung Kim has had solo exhibitions at Taymour Grahne Projects (London), Aout Gallery (Beirut), Place Mak (Seoul), Seogyo Art Space (Seoul), and various other Seoul-based spaces. Recent group exhibitions include ‘Intimacy’ by Taymour Grahne Projects (London), The National Taiwan Arts Education Centre (Taipei), Artime Art Centre (China) and Fortnight Institute (NY).
