Mikyung Kim

Mikyung Kim (b. 1964) explores the accumulation of time, memory, and existence through a practice rooted in repetition and layering. Working across painting, photography, and sculpture, Kim engages in a process-based methodology in which Kim repeatedly applies and removes layers of pigment or inscribes sequential numbers as a meditative, performative gesture. These acts become visual records of introspection. Drawing inspiration from everyday materials, natural phenomena, and personal memory, Kim constructs temporal stratifications across her work. What begins as an intimate observation of daily surroundings evolves through sustained repetition into a broader reflection on life’s origin and the passage of time. For Kim, repetition is not merely a formal device but a mode of contemplation. In her paintings, accumulations of color and texture build over time, while in her soap sculptures, small individual pieces are collected and assembled into unified forms. These materially distinct practices are connected through a shared structural logic—each governed by layering, modularity, and an attentiveness to duration. Across media, Kim constructs a visual language that gives form to the intangible traces of time.