JAKUPSIL

Donghwan Kim’s recent paintings center on the pansy—an omnipresent flower in Korea, frequently overlooked precisely because of its abundance. Recalled from childhood memory as something akin to grass—common, near at hand, quietly sustaining and beautifying its surroundings—the pansy becomes, in Kim’s work, a meditation on proximity and neglect, visibility and disregard. Though widely naturalized in Korea, the flower originated in Europe, introducing a subtle diasporic inflection that mirrors the artist’s own transnational life.

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Kim was initially drawn to the pansy for its chromatic duality: the tension between its dark core and luminous petals. This interplay of shadow and radiance unfolds as a metaphor for human complexity—an insistence that identity resists singular definition. The flower’s secondary connotation, historically associated with weakness or effeminacy, further deepens the inquiry. Rather than reject the term, Kim reclaims it, aligning vulnerability with resilience and reframing marginality as latent strength.

Botanically, the pansy is among the few flowering plants capable of withstanding subfreezing temperatures. Its endurance, coupled with its chromatic range, destabilizes its conventional relegation to ornamental filler. In Kim’s compositions, the pansy emerges as both subject and protagonist—structurally centered, materially assertive, and psychologically charged. Working across canvas and textile-informed surfaces, Kim develops layered fields in which repetition becomes devotion. The paintings resist spectacle in favor of sustained attention, elevating what is commonplace into a site of dignity and recognition. Through this sustained engagement, the pansy is restored to singularity—no longer peripheral, but essential.

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Born in Korea, Kim demonstrated an early commitment to drawing and painting. He received a BFA with honors before relocating to New York, where he continued his studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Immersed in the city’s urban intensity, Kim expanded his practice across canvas, paper, and textile-based media. He lives and works in New York.