Solo Exhibitions (Brief)

Joeun Kim Aatchim has held solo exhibitions including 《Minimally Invasive》 (Gladstone Gallery, Seoul, 2024), 《Old Habit Theater》 (Travasía Cuatro, Guadalajara, México, 2024), 《Sheer Painer》 (François Ghebaly, LA, USA, 2023), and 《사자굴 [Sajagul]—Then, out of the Den》 (Make Room, LA, USA, 2022).

Group Exhibitions (Brief)

Joeun Kim Aatchim has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including the Taipei Biennale 2025 《Whispers on the Horizon》 (Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, 2025-2026), 《To Bloom》 (The Page Gallery, Seoul, 2025), 《The Land of Exile》 (Aranya Art Center, Beidaihe, China, 2023), 《And the Moon Be Still as Bright》 (Harpers Chelsea, NY, USA, 2023), 《Durian On The Skin》 (François Ghebaly, LA, USA, 2022), and 《Machines of Desire》 (Simon Lee, London, 2022).

Awards (Selected)

Joeun Kim Aatchim has received fellowships at Yaddo (2023), Triangle Art Association (2021), Lighthouse Works (2021), Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2019), and The Drawing Center (2018-20).

Originality & Identity

Joeun Kim Aatchim’s practice begins with the translation of personal memory and emotional experience into painterly structures. From childhood, the artist lived with intermittent strabismus, a condition in which the eyes do not align perfectly. Rather than treating this as a limitation, she came to understand it as a particular mode of perception. She refers to this experience as a “new binocular vision,” describing a way of seeing that combines observation with recollection.

This perceptual condition became central to her artistic language and first emerged clearly in the solo exhibition 《eye jailed eye》(Vacation Gallery, New York, 2019). In this exhibition, the artist transferred images of women from her memories—her grandmother, mother, and younger sister—onto silk, examining the relationship between perception, memory, and painting. Works such as New Song(2019) and Bail Mother Melancholy (eye jailed eye) I(2019) reveal how remembered scenes carry not only visual information but also the emotional atmosphere shaped by time.
 
When she returned to painting, Aatchim established two rules for herself: to paint only what she had seen and to paint only what she remembered. These principles became an important foundation for her practice. In 《eye jailed eye》, paintings centered on her mother reflect on the emotional cycles shaped by depression and the possibility of forgiveness that emerges through revisiting the past. Rather than functioning as direct autobiographical illustrations, these works examine how memory reshapes relationships over time, allowing personal narratives to unfold through layered emotional structures.
 
During the early 2020s, the artist expanded her focus from memory itself to the relationships between memory, language, and imagination. In the solo exhibition 《사자굴 [Sajagul]—Then, out of the Den》(Make Room, Los Angeles, 2022), she experimented with memory as a kind of game, constructing visual narratives through linguistic ambiguity. The Korean word “saja” can signify both lion (獅子) and the dead (死者), and this dual meaning becomes a key conceptual device in the work. Paintings such as Deliver her— Like a Thief in the Night. We Heard of Lions, Above a Herd of Pianos(2022) and Doubt The Hands (The Debt Collector Seeks the Father Through a Milk Delivery Hole)(2022) transform fragments of family memory into nonlinear visual narratives where recollection and imagination intertwine.
 
More recent works broaden the scope of her practice toward shared emotional experiences. The exhibition 《최소침습》(Gladstone Gallery, Seoul, 2024) was developed after the artist underwent surgery. The concept of “minimally invasive” becomes a metaphor for relationships—how individuals may leave subtle but lasting traces in one another’s lives without causing harm. In works such as Next Time(2024) and Smiles From Kloster Mariastein(2024), figures appear in gestures of careful contact or embrace. These scenes suggest that care and intimacy often emerge within moments of vulnerability, transforming personal memory into a broader reflection on human connection.

Style & Contents

Aatchim’s paintings are constructed through the layering of images on translucent silk. Using mineral pigments, ink, watercolor, pastel, and walnut ink, the artist creates compositions that appear visually deep despite the physical thinness of the material. This layered structure functions as a visual analogue for memory, allowing different temporal and emotional layers to coexist within a single image. Multiple sheets of silk create a sense that figures, spaces, and objects exist in shifting spatial relationships rather than within a single stable scene.
 
This pictorial structure also reflects the artist’s perceptual experience. Rather than presenting objects in sharply defined forms, her paintings often appear as overlapping images, echoing the doubled perception associated with intermittent strabismus. At the same time, these overlapping forms suggest the fluid nature of memory as it evolves over time. In Unshoved (Fish Dish over Mom Picking Bone Out of My Throat)(2021–2024), two scenes from a single memory are separated across layers: the image of a fish dish appears in the foreground, while behind it the artist’s mother gently removes a fish bone from her throat. Through this spatial arrangement, memory becomes a layered structure rather than a singular event.
 
The artist frequently begins by constructing a detailed spatial setting composed of architectural elements and specific objects, later introducing figures into that environment. This compositional approach resembles the classical mnemonic technique known as the “memory palace.” In works such as A Safe Coffin — A Tale of a Tail, Out of the Blue. (Kinderszenen)(2022), space, objects, and human figures interact to form a complex visual network through which memory unfolds. By organizing recollection spatially, Aatchim transforms painting into a site where remembered places and relationships can be reassembled.
 
Her recent works also expand painting toward a more object-like structure. By mounting silk onto wooden panels or incorporating metal hardware and decorative elements, the artist introduces physical depth into the work. These material strategies reinforce the idea that memory is not purely visual but embedded within bodily experience and sensation. As light moves across the layered silk surfaces, the image subtly shifts, suggesting the mutable and evolving character of memory itself.

Topography & Continuity

Joeun Kim Aatchim occupies a distinctive position within contemporary painting through her approach to autobiographical memory. While many artists address personal narratives through representational imagery, Aatchim focuses on the structural formation of memory itself. The transparency and layering of silk allow different moments, emotions, and spatial relationships to coexist within a single pictorial field. Rooted in materials historically associated with Korean painting yet articulated through contemporary compositional strategies, her work forms a hybrid visual language that moves between tradition and experimental painting.
 
Over time, the thematic scope of her practice has gradually expanded. Early works centered on intimate family memories, particularly those connected to her mother and childhood experiences. Later projects introduced linguistic play and imaginative reinterpretation, while recent works increasingly explore themes of vulnerability, care, and bodily experience. This development can be traced through the sequence of exhibitions from 《eye jailed eye》 to 《사자굴 [Sajagul]—Then, out of the Den》 and ultimately 《최소침습》, each stage widening the conceptual range of the work.
 
Alongside these thematic developments, Aatchim’s international presence has steadily grown. Her solo exhibitions include 《Sheer Painer》(François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, 2023) and 《Old Habit Theater》(Travesía Cuatro, Guadalajara, 2024), while group exhibitions such as 《Durian On The Skin》(François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, 2022), 《The Land of Exile》(Aranya Art Center, Beidaihe, 2023), and 《And the Moon Be Still as Bright》(Harpers Chelsea, New York, 2023) situate her practice within broader global conversations. Through these contexts, her work continues to engage with contemporary discourses surrounding memory, identity, and perception.
 
Ultimately, Aatchim’s paintings propose a visual language for the complexity of memory and emotion. The layered silk surfaces create spaces where past and present, reality and imagination intersect. While rooted in personal experience, these works gradually extend outward, inviting viewers to encounter their own memories within the subtle, shifting atmospheres of her images.