SEUNGJOO KIM
SeungJoo Kim
" My artworks are the result of my own experience, feelings, and thoughts.
Depression drawings and animal drawings may look different but they came from the same place. How to interpret them is on the viewers. Silly, fun, sarcastic, sad, or anything. It is an open space of my head. Welcome in!
Education
2017-2022 BA Fine Art, Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, The Netherlands
2011-2014 Art, YEWON school, Seoul, Korea
Exhibitions
2022 Arty Party Melkweg Amsterdam
2022 Graduation Exposure- Nominated for the Travis Geertruida Prize
2020 Obstructed Recollection - Group show
2019 First time always hurts, Vodka Soup Collective, Utrecht, Group show
“I want to do what I like and love what I do. I believe the art that made me happy can make others happy too.”
Artist, painter, drawer, sculptor. Seungjoo studied Fine Arts at HKU 2017- 2022. They grew up as art kid in South Korea and went to an art middle school that taught them skills to draw and paint realistically. Going through COVID time and depression, SJ found that they need to make art that makes them happy. Cute fun animal drawings and relatable meme drawings are what they enjoy making. Not only feel the joy of making art, but they also express bad emotions through the drawings. Depression drawings and animal drawings may look different but they came from the same place. Silly, fun, sarcastic, sad, or anything from the heart. Regardless of the context of art, what SJ is doing is to be a happy person who is also an artist with genuine artwork.
"Welcome to the colorful installation that is the open space of Seungjoo Kim’s head. She lures you into her spiral installation with cute animal drawings in happy colors. Passing a huge hamster that is guarding the space, you enter her collection of funny works with strong connotations to the Z generation’s meme culture. Step carefully over the plastic balls and read the words on the meme-like drawings to get to know not only Kim’s work but herself as well.
When you advance in the space, the atmosphere changes and the cheerful animals fade into the background. Wondering how art can function as therapy, and how it might heal, Kim displays her sad and dark drawings that sprung from depression. These depression drawings and the cute animal images might look very different but come from the same place. Seeing art as pooping, Kim describes her artistic process as experiencing, digesting, and emitting. Silly, fun, sarcastic, cute, or sad, this is her space where all the works have the same #mood."
-Text by Milou Terpstra