S.H. Kim (b. 1992, Seoul, South Korea) is a New York-based painter whose monumental works explore the intersection of contemporary visual culture and pure abstraction. Reconfiguring the graphic language of 90s animation, Kim strips away predetermined narratives to focus on the fundamental architecture of painting: form, color, and materiality.
In his practice, Kim subverts the flat, enclosed surfaces of his source material by leaving deliberate, unpainted gaps between adjacent planes of color. These subtle fissures expose raw underpaintings and colored pencil sketches, transforming the canvas into a tactile, living surface. Operating on massive 78-inch canvases with small, precise brushwork, Kim navigates the tension between digital exactitude and painterly intuition. His work demands slow observation, inviting viewers to step away from the fast consumption of images and experience the profound structural tension and physical presence of the medium itself.
Kim received his BFA in Painting and BA in Art History and Theory from Hongik University in Seoul, and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been presented in solo exhibitions internationally, including Tiger Gallery (London), Galería Yusto/Giner (Madrid), Studio Concrete (Seoul), FLXST Contemporary (Chicago), and Another Gallery (Los Angeles). He continues to live and work in New York.