Born in South Korea, Kim Myung-joo began studying ceramic sculpture at the age of 19 at Hongik University College of Fine Arts in Seoul. While learning traditional techniques, she was encouraged to find her own world. After graduating, she used Mac software to create web images for a living, but she preferred to use pencils for her art. Pencils and brushes allow her to get as close as possible to her feelings, troubles and emotions, which helps her move from drawing to three-dimensional works.
In 2001, she moved to Paris and began to express her strong inspiration for her newfound French nature in imaginary paintings on faience, such as plates and tiles. These drawings were then transformed into three-dimensional sculptures, resulting in poetic sculptures that combine European culture and Asian animism with her own unique shapes: plants, animal bodies and human heads.
This was an important step towards the dreamlike fantasies that shaped her imagination. In 2014, she completed her master’s degree at ENSAV La Cambre in Brussels. Her time in Brussels marked a significant evolution in her development, it was a time when the inner expressiveness of the work was becoming more free. Another rich source of inspiration for her work has been residencies in places with diverse natural environments. She began her first residency in Shigaraki, Japan, in 2008 and has continued to have activities of residencies in Korea and Europe, including ClayArch Gimhae Museum in 2015 and 2016, Daejeon Temi Art Residency in 2019, and the École d’art du Beauvaisis in France in 2022. As time passed and she continued her life in different places, she felt her reflection on the most basic question of all – existence – build up.
In 2013, the Ariana Museum in Geneva honoured her with a prize at the Parcours de Carouge and purchased the sculpture. In 2014, she was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at C14 in Paris; in 2015, she was invited to participate in the 18th International Biennale of Ceramics’ Objectif Terre’ in Châteauroux; and in 2016, she was invited to participate in the 24th International Biennale of Ceramics in Vallauris. In 2017, She held a solo exhibition, ‘Secret Faces,’ at ClayArch Gimhae Museum for the first time in her mother country. Along with sculpture, she also works in painting and drawing, and has participated in various exhibitions in Europe and Korea, including Kunstforum Solothurn in Switzerland, where she is a member of the AIC. Today, Kim Myung-joo’s world of ceramics has become more distinct, occupying a unique place in contemporary ceramics.
Visit Myung-Joo Kim’s website and Instagram page.
Featured work
Selected works, 2019-2023
Miroir de Joie, 2022
Myung-Joo Kim’s work belongs to the artist’s figurative work in which the world of “fantastic” reigns supreme. Her infinitely poetic but tortured universe recalls the cruelty of romanticism, where all paths lead love to a state of total despair. It conveys the ambiguous feelings of jubilation and disarray that animate every human being.
The artist’s singular expression harmonizes perfectly with the clay material she shapes, while her meaningful and modest range of colours reminds us that true emotion draws on the profound and unfathomable depths of the heart.
Isabelle Naef Galuba, Directrice du Musée Ariana, Geneva
