Eunjin Kim

b. 1968 | South Korea

The core keywords in Eunjin Kim’s paintings are ‘desire,’ ‘fear,’ ‘the sacred,’ ‘salvation,’ and ‘the world of the unconscious.’ Reflecting on the social conditions she has experienced and the despairing limitations of human beings caught within meaningless, irrational phenomena, the artist portrays these subjects on canvas with a style that is both direct and ludicrous, sharp yet playful.

Location of God, Hordes of people series harnesses the shimmering, iridescent quality of mother-of-pearl. Fragmented pieces of mother-of-pearl are applied to the figures’ clothing and backdrops, reflecting light and shifting dynamically depending on the viewer’s position and angle. Beneath this distinctive, brilliant gleam, a diverse crowd of human figures and imaginary divine beings reveal their grotesque forms. Regarding this series, Kim states, “It is a body of work that three-dimensionally blends contrasting themes—a bright, radiant world versus the difficult, ambiguous nature of human life—through the interplay of painting and the light of mother-of-pearl.”