Contemporary artist Yunho Kim explores tropes and conventions of photography to capture architectural structures, social practices, and everyday scenes that characterise a place.
Read MoreBorn in Hamyang, Yunho Kim studied photography at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, where he gained a BFA in 1998. He graduated with an MFA from the same university in 2002. In 2005, Kim completed an associate research studentship in fine art at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Yunho Kim's images are characterised by their detached, observational quality, akin to documentary photography and film. Often focusing on a subject such as a building, vehicle, landscape, or event stage, Kim's photographs narrow the viewer's attention to a considered singular moment.
Kim explores wider possibilities for photography through film and installation. For Bus (2006—2007), the Korean artist presented a 13 metre digital C-print installation comprising hundreds of photographs of individual buses. The Fifth Travel (2007) comprises a series of frames pairing souvenir images of famous European landmarks with the artist's own photos echoing the same compositions. Buildings such as the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and Piccadilly Circus are re-presented through Kim's lens in a subtle interrogation of the social practices and stereotyped gestures associated with genre photography—in this case, amateur or touristic photography.
With a sensitivity to the parameters of the medium, Kim utilises photography as a tool through which to examine perception, spectacle, and the banality or universality of experience.
Kim's images have been published in photobooks including The Tedious Landscape (2003) and The Tedious Landscape II (2008). The 'Tedious Landscape' series (2001—2008) features the artist's documentary-style photographs of various peripheral regions of South Korea, including rural villages, landscapes, and bodybuilding and beauty pageants.
In his painting practice, Kim meticulously renders Korean phrases in oils or acrylics on canvas, in a graphic style reminiscent of traditional signwriting. Areumdapseumnida (This is Beautiful) (2013) centres the phrase 'this is beautiful' in clean typography against an orange background, while Jalbogogamnida (It's Appreciated) (2013) similarly presents 'it's appreciated' in white text on black. Though elusive in meaning, Kim's paintings recall his photographic explorations of the stereotypes and associations of a medium. In his paintings, this inquiry delves into language divorced from context.
Kim has received numerous awards and residencies including the 4th D International Artists Residency Programme, D Project Space, Seoul (2016); Premio Speciale Artist Prize, Biennale Giovani Monza (2011); Mongin Art Space Residency, Mongin Art Center, Seoul (2008); International Artists Residency Programme, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Korea (2007); Künstlerhaus Bethanien Residency Programme, Berlin (2006).
Yunho Kim's practice has been the subject of exhibitions throughout South Korea and internationally.
Select solo exhibitions include After SAJINJEON, The gallery D, Sol Beach Hotel & Resort, Yangyang (2017); After SAJINJEON, The Gallery D, Del Fino Golf & resort, Goseong (2017); Daesungmyeon Jaegwiri, Sono Felice Lobby Window Gallery, Hongcheon (2017); Daesungmyeon Jaegwiri, ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul (2017); m2, Atelier Hermes, Seoul (2015); SAJINJEON II, ONE AND J. Gallery (2013); SAJINJEON, ONE AND J. Gallery (2010); The Tedious Landscape II, Sarah Lee Artworks & Projects, Santa Monica (2008).
Select group exhibitions include Role-playing: Rewriting Mythology, Daegu Photo Biennale (2018); CRACKS in the Concrete II from the MMCA Collection: A Glimpse into the World/Gazing into Eternity, MMCA, Gwacheon (2017); Beginning of the End, ONE AND J. +1, Seoul (2016); Camera-Human 2, Igong Gallery, Daejeon (2015); SOS, Dongduk Women's University, Seoul (2015); Korea Power, Museum für Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, Frankfurt (2013); Connecting the Dots, Dongduk Art Center, Seoul (2013); Landscape of Moment, Seongnam Arts Center, Seongnam (2012); Hello, Stranger, Sydney Korea Culture Office, Sydney (2012); Paradise Lost, Goeun Museum of Photography, Busan (2012); Serrone, Biennale Giovani Monza, Monza (2011).
Kim's works are held in public collections including the City of Monza Art Collection, Italy; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, USA; MMCA, Gwacheon; Hyundai Capital, Seoul; Mongin Art Center, Seoul; Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Sungnam; Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority; Korea Joongang Daily, Seoul; Parkgeonhi Foundation, Seoul.
Kim is represented by ONE AND J. Gallery in Seoul.
Misong Kim | Ocula | 2021
