Born in Seoul in 1992, Xi’an Kim is a contemporary artist known for her distinctive approach to still life. Kim studied printmaking at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where her practice evolved around the deconstruction and reinterpretation of familiar objects and living beings. Her work focuses on transforming everyday items into forms that evoke a plastic-like texture, devoid of temperature or life, yet striking in their simplicity and candidness.
Kim’s work strips away extraneous details, presenting objects in their essence. "I do not pursue the authenticity of objects," Kim states, emphasizing her focus on the manufactured nature of the things she encounters. This method involves rendering familiar forms unfamiliar, suggesting a process of reconstruction that disrupts our perception of reality. Her use of plastic textures underscores this shift, offering a feeling of artificiality that is at once permanent and illusionary.
Central to her practice is the idea of creating an idealized state of nothingness on the canvas, a utopia where the complexities and ideologies of the real world are absent. This minimalistic approach allows Kim to engage with themes of reality and perception without the weight of ideological influence. Her works, often featuring birds, deer, and other creatures, are inspired by her experiences living in China, where animals are frequently employed as metaphors for human emotions due to social taboos. “Birds and deer are often compared to humans in China, but because of social taboos, many artists express their personal feelings through these animals. I like this figurative way,” Kim notes.
Through her work, Kim constructs a visual world that exists in a suspended state of simplicity, where the familiar is reshaped into a detached, almost surreal form. This quiet, yet profound reimagining of the mundane offers viewers a glimpse into her artistic vision, where reality is both questioned and reconstituted.
Xi’an Kim holds an MA in Printmaking from The Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, (2018). Recent solo and group exhibition include Time Sleep, ARTSIDE Gallery, Seoul (2024, solo); Phantom Rooms, Newchild, Antwerp (2024); Perfect Universe, Gallery in HQ, Seoul, (2024); Closed Market, Galerieovo, Taipei, (2023, solo); Eternal Land, Gallery in HQ, Seoul, (2023, solo); Metamorphosis, Art Sohyang, Busan, South Korea, (2023); Polyreality, Hive Art Center, Beijing, (2023); Thus, The End Of My Gaze Is, Artside Gallery, Seoul, (2023); among others. She was a Top 10 semi-finalist in the HIGHLIGHTS ARTIST category at the 2024 Korea International Art Fair (KIAF). Her work is included in the public collection of the MMCA Art Bank, a subsidiary of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, South Korea. The artist currently lives and works in Seoul.