Join us on VOLTA Visits, a recurring series where we spend studio time with VOLTA exhibiting artists and learn more about their background, process, and projects.

Yongchul Kim’s studio is based in Stuttgart, a studio house offering workspace for artists in a historic 19th century building. Wooden floor, high ceilings, natural light, and the smell of fresh oil paint in the air.

Entering the studio, a large format painting in warm orange, brown and purple colors immediately draws attention. Several smaller ones are hanging next to each other. One painting, showing the shape of a person wearing a bunny hat, is at an early stage and as yet unfinished.

The bunny is a recurring subject in Yongchul’s current series. In his painting Grünes Kaninchen (Green Rabbit) it looks directly at the observer, but his eyes disappear behind the strong brush strokes. Its body vanishes into the dark background. Referring to Lewis Carroll's ‘White Rabbit’ in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Yongchul’s bunny seems to wander between different worlds.

Yongchul’s figures are often accompanied by a dog. A faithful companion, a seeker. In Hund und Kaktus (Dog and Cactus) both blend into each other and the oil paint seems to melt the surface. Plants and blossoms symbolize becoming and passing away. His creatures dissolve themselves into the void.

Yongchul’s paintings create a mystic setting. A woman sitting in a wing chair, gazing absently to the ground. Distant. What is she thinking about?

The woman’s face and her left leg are well-elaborated, detailed in appearance. But the objects around her – furniture, clothes, the plant in the back, her dog next to her on the floor and parts of her body – seem to fade. Thick brush strokes are floating around her. They guide the observer through the picture and its composition. Draw them into the painting.

Yongchul’s work process starts with his sketch book, his collection of ideas. The research for each painting, an investigation for new ideas, is an important part of his process. Once he transfers them onto the canvas, he has a specific vision set for his painting. He paints his figures from memory, without a template. He starts building each artwork from the main figure in its center. From front to back. Yongchul keeps revisiting his work repeatedly, until it feels fully completed.

“We don’t experience reality, but our subjective interpretation.”
— Immanuel Kant

Born in South Korea, Yongchul moved to Germany in 2014. After studying visual arts in Chonnam, South Korea, he graduated at Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart in 2020. His art explores existential uncertainty and the dissolution of existence. He captures a constant state of alteration. Who are we? And what do we become?

Yongchul works in themes. An earlier cycle investigated what it means to be a stranger. His figures appeared submerged in water, reflecting themselves and floating on the surface. Reflection is an essential part of his work. He explores his perception, his view of the world, in relation to society. In his current series, he engages with creatures situated between here and there. They seem to be in an intermediate state of unfolding and disappearing.

Yongchul Kim is presented by Galerie Thomas Fuchs in Stuttgart. Thomas Fuchs and Andreas Pucher discovered him before he graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. Fascinated by his works, Yongchul was immediately accepted to the gallery’s artist roster. For VOLTA Basel’s September Edition, he will present his new sets of works and additional paintings that were yet unfinished during this studio visit.

YONGCHUL KIM
Born 1982 in Yeosu, South Korea
Lives and works in Stuttgart, Germany

Education

2014–2020 Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart, Germany
2009 Chonnam national University of Fine Arts BFA, Gwangju, South Korea

Awards

2017 GOPEA-Förderpreis, Nordhorn, Germany
2016 DAAD Award, Germany
2016 "Kunstwettbewerb des Bodenseekreis", Rotes Haus Galerie, Meersburg, Germany
2012 "Junge Künstler-Unterstützung", Lotte Galerie, Gwangju, South Korea
2010 Yangsandong-Studio Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, South Korea

Recent Solo Exhibitions (selection)

2020 "Yongchul Kim. Wanderer im Nirgendwo", Galerie Thomas Fuchs, Stuttgart, Germany
2019 "Yongchul Kim", Fritz und Hildegard Ruoff Stiftung, Nürtingen, Germany
2018 "Yongchul Kim. Floating", Galerie Thomas Fuchs, Stuttgart, Germany
2018 Zwischen Schein und Sein - Malerei mit Yongchul Kim", Nordheimer Scheune, Nordheim, Germany
2017 "fremde Grenze", Alte Aula ABK Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany