An Interview With Minjoo Kim
Born and raised in South Korea, Minjoo Kim, is a narrative painter who addresses the formation and re-negotiation of cultural identity, drawing from her own experience growing up in a conservative Korean context. The subjects of her paintings, primarily women, are drawn from real-life but depicted in an imaginary setting. These figures radiate a feeling of discomfort, created by their personal circumstances: Kim is interested in this psychological portrayal more than what she calls the ‘root and process’ of the work. Rather than attempting to define her subject’s feelings, however, she focuses on presenting their universality, thus producing ‘little points of contact for empathy with women like her.’
Can you tell us a little bit about you?
I’m an acrylic painter born in South Korea and I’ve been based in London since 2016. I received a MA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts. I love playing with the characters and imaginary stories that I created in my paintings to visualise my feeling of anxiety from daily life.
What is your artistic process and how has it evolved since you began painting?
Making the imaginary narrative is the most important start of my paintings and the character of myself is always the leading role in the scenes. I’m currently enjoying creating imaginary objects and sceneries more and more and trying to explore the style somewhere in the middle of cartoony vibe and traditional painting look. I used to have lots of colours in one painting but I’m recently into this greyish beige as the main colour as it defines the key mood I want very well and I use a limited number of vivid colours to make the meaning of it more powerful.
How has growing up in South Korea influenced your art?
I’m pretty sure it has changed a lot nowadays but back when I was preparing to get into art major in the university, what was required for the entrance exam was showing perfect skill of traditional, life-like painting and drawing. Now I know that’s not the most ideal way to learn fine art but thanks to that I got to have a very good basic skill that makes me able to create any images in my head without looking at any actual objects or models.
Who or what are the main inspiration behind the figures in your work?
The scenes and narratives in my paintings are mostly generated from my personal experiences. The ingredients of the ideas have always been different but in the core of everything, it’s always about the moments of anxiety. That’s always been the part of my life that disturbs me and makes me get through at the same time. The stories come from the society I belong to, little daily incidents and observations of myself. For example, when I lived in Korea the stories were about me living as a woman in the conservative Korean society among the peer pressures. In my early years in the UK, it was about being a stranger in a different cultural society. And currently I’m observing my life of first motherhood. In that sense I can say my recent biggest inspiration will be my 2 year-old daughter and so I created a character that has me and my daughter’s characters together.
How do you hope your art will impact viewers?
I hope those people who always carry the feeling of anxiety and uncertainty in life have a little empathy and feel comfort by my work. Especially when it comes to my recent works that are related to motherhood, I hope they can connect their experiences as parents or their childhood. Also I hope these very personal records can be interpreted in different ways reflecting each person’s life. Because I always learn from those different views.
What is the biggest challenge you face as an artist?
Simply, I want to be more productive than last year and to make more work. It doesn’t mean I put more importance on quantity than quality. Time management has been pretty challenging since I had a child so I had to find my own way to juggle things with my working hours. I’m experimenting with many methods like reducing the size of works or limiting the colour palette so that I can complete the entire body of work effectively.
Your earliest memory of art?
When I was young I couldn’t stand having blank spaces in papers. I always doodled everywhere like cartoon characters, faces I saw from the street or anything that comes to my mind. I remember I used to get told off by teachers a lot as the homework papers were never neat.
Are there any particular artists that you are currently enjoying?
Maria Lassnig and Jim Shaw’s paintings are always a big inspiration to me. I love having some cheekiness and quirkiness in fine art like they did, not to mention their brilliant skill and incredible range of ideas. Also, thanks to my 2 year old daughter, I read and collect lots of picture books recently and being exposed to many different types of illustration works turned out to be a good influence on my artwork as well.
What is your favourite book or film and why?
Very difficult question as it’s so hard to pick one! But if I look back on the ones that influenced me massively in many aspects, I would say my favourite book will be 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and I love most of Jim Jarmusch’s films. Especially ‘Coffee and Cigarettes’ and ‘Broken Flower’. I just always love the stories that are discovering the uniqueness and wit from mundane life and makes me see the real life with lots of imagination.
Are you working on any new projects you are particularly excited about?
Since 2022 I’ve been working on a new series called ‘Soft Play’. The narratives are formed from my first experience as a new mother. There was a moment when I discovered the contradiction of my situation. While I was physically surrounded by all these ‘soft and safe’ objects to give my child more safety and comfortability, my mental state was still uncertain and anxious. Also, when I see the children’s toys and books, they are full of recreated images of the same animals and creatures. And I thought ‘maybe she still doesn’t know which one is the real elephant, even when she sees one in a zoo.’ That sort of idea became a source for me to depict my little identity issues. The motherhood experience itself gives me lots of inspiration to just record who I am in the present time and how my feelings of anxiety are formed. At the same time, creating these works gives me huge comfort to get through those feelings.