▲ Artist Youngsoon Kim

Artist Youngsoon Kim’s works are oil painting but they contain an atmosphere of traditional Korean art. Her most famous <Miracle> series, for example, is painted in oil but her most famous object ‘moon jar’ is positioned in the middle while the Korean paper and colors adds oriental elements. The flowery mountains and the river in front also create a calm and sublime landscape of Korea in her oil painting. 

From calligraphy to oil painting
She majored in humanities and grew her interest in calligraphy after graduation. Seeing her skills growing, she opened a calligraphy academy which she ran for 7 years. She then paid a visit to a local cultural center and took a chance to learn oil painting. She was enchanted when she first saw the colors and atmosphere the oil paintings creating. She learned necessary skills under the instruction of her teacher for a few years. Finding herself copying her teacher, she decided to deepen her knowledge and skills at university. 

“I then engaged in various art organizations such as the Korean Fine Arts Association, Daegu Fine Arts Association, and Korea Professional Artists Association, in an effort to be a professional artist on my own terms. And oil always has been the main ingredient of my works” said Kim.

Moon jar
She tried various styles from still life to landscape but eventually landed in one main object: moon jar. The snow white background with the full moon is creating a unique Korean beauty and atmosphere and the work is well received overseas for the same value. The moon jar shows a unique form which is not wholly circle yet not wholly distorted. 

“I realized that our life is about struggling to buy a house, grow children, make husband successful. We constantly desire something better and more. It might be this realization that moon jar is such a beautiful object, which embraces everything although it contains nothing, which has a conviction deep down in that beauty, and which communicates with everything. That’s why I was so drawn by it.”

Her series work <Miracle> also is an extension of this realization. “We all have difficulties in life and everybody hopes something miracle happens. So, I express these difficulties and desires in my works and I hope the appreciators can share the empathy.”  

Invitational exhibition in China
Kim has displayed her works in various art fairs including the 2018 KAFA International Art Fair, The End and The Beginning (Paris), and 2019 Seoul Art Expo. Recently, she participated in the Art Shopping held at The Louvre from May 26th ~ 28th. Currently, she has been invited to the Korea-China Shandong Exchange Exhibition held in June this year. 

“Although I’m an oil painter I used to be a calligrapher. As for the coming years, I would make the most of my talent in both oil painting and calligraphy to create something new and something brilliant.”