Born in Seoul, Korea in 1973, Young-sung Kim is a Korean and New York City based artist. Young-sung Kim creates hyperreal paintings exploring contrasting subject matters to illustrate the differences between the living and the material. Since graduating in 1997 from College of Fine Art, Hongik University, Youngsung Kim’s paintings critique the level at which we place “value” on objects; both commercially and ethically.
The coexistence ofspecies and objects,such as a frog and a metalspoon, analyse the desolation of modern society thus revealing humanity’s negligence of life towards other living things. Animals exist in the same environment as humans but are viewed in a lower hierarchy, often as food or decorative elements. His most recent works express our modern society, where lives are threatened due to the advanced development of material civilisations.
Young-sung Kim challenges social values, and since early 2000’s, Young-sung has focused on species such as snails, frogs and goldfish. He maintains that the animals in his paintings are representative of today’s society where humansseem to be living happy,stable lives, but are in fact adapting to survive in a confined space that is completely exposed to others. He uses this to consider the importance of life in a situation where artificial objects coexist with life forms. By criticizing humans and the material society we live in, Young-sung lowers the value of humans into the existence of mere objects; confident on the outside, but have lost substance inside. He reflects on human nature and our dependence on materials; silk representing luxury while glass and metal reflect durability, so often sought after in modern society.
Kim’s paintings are part of numerous private collections and the permanent collections of the Seoul Museum of Art, Art Retreat Museum and many more. His work has been exhibited in London, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and many other international galleries.
Image: Nothing, Life, Object (snail I), 130cm x 194cm, Oil on Linen
