Overview

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023
Connected Lives, Mon Amour Gallery, Asan, Korea 

2021
Moon & Horse, Artmusee Gallery, Seoul, Korea

Phoenix Valley, Gallery Choi, Seoul, Korea

2020
Joy & Pain, Capore, Yangpyeong, Korea

Saekma, Insa Art Plaza, Seoul, Korea

2019
Gongjeuk Sisaek [Form Is Emptiness, Emptiness Is Form], Maru Gallery, Seoul, Korea

Mado Seonggong, Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

Rainbow, Mon Amour Gallery, Asan, Korea

2017
Color Shower, Insa Art Center, Seoul, Korea

REBIRTH, Ittda Space, Incheon, Korea

Goksinbulsa, Yoon Art Gallery, Shanghai, China

2016
Horse & Flower, Karas Gallery, Seoul, Korea

Goksin, K-리즈 Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2015
The Phoenix, Insa Art Center / Karas Gallery, Seoul, Korea; Gallery Mare, Busan, Korea

Goksin — Song of Hope, Keum Bo Sung Art Center, Seoul, Korea

SELECTED ART FAIRS & GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024
KIAF Seoul, ARTSPACE H, COEX, Seoul, Korea — Seokyoung Kim is listed in the official KIAF artist index. 

2013
Busan International Art Show, BEXCO, Busan, Korea
SOAF (Seoul Open Art Fair), COEX, Seoul, Korea

2012
BAMA (Busan Alternative Market of Art), Busan, Korea
SOAF (Seoul Open Art Fair), COEX, Seoul, Korea

2011
SOAF (Seoul Open Art Fair), COEX, Seoul, Korea
Art Fair Statten Haus Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Daegu International Art Fair, Daegu, Korea
Art Asia Miami, Miami, USA 

EDUCATION

B.F.A. in Western Painting, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea 

COLLECTIONS

Selected works are held in collections including SK, Woongjin ThinkBig, Nexus, Daemyung Group, Koryeo Engineering & Construction, Green Umbrella Children’s Foundation, Keum Bo Sung Art Center, as well as corporate and private collections in Korea and China.

Artist’s Statement

My paintings begin with a fundamental question: what does it mean to be alive?

For more than three decades, I have explored the energy of life through the language of painting. At the center of my work is the concept of “Goksin (谷神)”, derived from Laozi’s Tao Te Ching. Goksin refers to the mysterious and generative spirit of the valley—a source of nature, life, renewal, and continuous circulation. For me, it represents an invisible force that sustains life and offers the possibility of healing and hope.

The horse and the flower are recurring motifs in my paintings. The horse embodies movement, freedom, vitality, and the instinctive force of life, while the flower suggests growth, beauty, transformation, and renewal. I do not attempt to reproduce these forms realistically. Instead, I use them as vessels through which energy, emotion, and the movement of life can emerge.

My paintings are created through an intuitive and physical process of gesture, color, and movement. I pour, spread, draw, and sometimes allow the paint to flow freely across the surface. Rapid and instinctive brushstrokes, unexpected combinations of vivid colors, and the tension between control and chance allow the image to evolve beyond conscious intention. In this process, the boundary between recognizable form and abstraction becomes fluid.

Color is not merely a visual element in my work. It carries emotional and spiritual energy. I use intense, saturated colors and dynamic brushwork to transform the canvas into a space where the viewer can encounter the vitality of nature and the rhythm of existence.

My work is also a process of circulation. The world enters my consciousness, is transformed through my body and painting, and then returns to the world as a new visual experience. Through this process, painting becomes both an encounter with the external world and a journey into the inner self.

Ultimately, I hope my paintings can offer a moment of vitality, consolation, healing, and hope. Like the enduring spirit of Goksin, I believe that life continues to move, transform, and renew itself.

Biography

KIM SEOKYOUNG (b. 1966, Korea) is a Korean contemporary painter whose practice explores the vitality of nature, the circulation of life, and the relationship between the visible world and the inner self. He graduated from the Department of Western Painting at Hongik University, Seoul, in 1990 and held his first solo exhibition in 1991. Since then, he has developed an extensive career spanning more than three decades, with numerous solo exhibitions and over 100 group exhibitions and art fairs in Korea and abroad. (Art Musee Blog)

A central concept in Kim’s artistic practice is “Goksin (谷神)”, derived from Laozi’s Tao Te Ching and the phrase Goksinbulsa (谷神不死), meaning that the spirit of the valley does not perish. Kim interprets Goksin as a generative force connected to nature, life, circulation, and healing. This philosophical framework has informed a significant body of his paintings since the early 2010s. (gallerymare)

His paintings combine elements of Eastern philosophy with the expressive language of Western abstract painting. Horses, flowers, ponds, and other natural forms frequently appear as symbolic motifs, representing vitality, freedom, transformation, renewal, and the continuous movement of life. Rather than depicting these subjects literally, Kim transforms them through energetic gestures, vivid color, and dynamic painterly surfaces. (Gallery MHK)

Since his first solo exhibition at Batanggol Art Gallery in 1991, Kim has presented major solo exhibitions including The Boundaries of Painting at United Gallery in Seoul (2010), Sounds of Silence at Gallery Doo (2011), Light of Goksin at Gallery Doo (2012), Goksin – Song of Life at Seongnam Arts Center (2013), Goksinbulsa at Keum Bo Sung Art Center and other venues (2013–2014), Goksin – Song of Hope at Keum Bo Sung Art Center (2015), and Connected Lives at Mon Amour Gallery in 2023. (Gallery MHK)

His work has also been presented at major Korean and international art fairs, including SOAF, BAMA, Busan International Art Show, Daegu International Art Fair, Art Fair Statten Haus Cologne, and Art Asia Miami. In 2024, he participated in KIAF Seoul with ARTSPACE H. (Art Musee Blog)

Kim Seokyoung’s works are held in a range of corporate and institutional collections in Korea and China, including SK, Woongjin ThinkBig, Nexus, Green Umbrella Children’s Foundation, Keum Bo Sung Art Center, SCP Group China, and Yueda Group China, among others. (gallerymare)

Through an expressive synthesis of color, gesture, natural imagery, and philosophical thought, KIM SEOKYOUNG continues to investigate painting as a space where life, nature, and human consciousness can meet and transform one another.

Works