Ho Jae Kim

Ho Jae Kim (b. 1993) received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2016; he is currently based in New York City. The paintings of Ho Jae Kim work on a number of philosophic, creative, and technical levels. Their process involves drafting the artist’s own images on a 3D modeling program. This initial step is a homage to the artist, Piero della Francesca of the Early Italian Renaissance, which allows Kim a degree of precision where he can achieve heightened levels of geometric and compositional accuracy. These 3D models are finalized and then printed on an inkjet printer in multiple layers, which are later transferred onto his painting surfaces using inkjet transfer techniques. Layers of overlapping transfers mimic the process of glazing. Ultimately, the transferred images are used as underpaintings in a similar way that ‘cartoons’ (fully realized under-drawings) were traditionally used in frescos. Thematically, Kim’s works explore transformation, the mundanity of contemporary life, and the idea of purgatory, in as much as our everyday lives have a sense of liminal suspension between quotidian moments, between birth and death.

Most recently, he has participated in exhibitions at Harper’s, New York, Los Angeles, and East Hampton (2023, 2022, and 2021); Hive Center for Contemporary Arts, Beijing (2023), Canal Projects, NY (2023); Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles (2023); Make Room, Los Angeles (2023); NEXX Asia, Taipei (2023); Christie’s, New York (2022 and 2020); Sotheby’s, New York (2022 and 2018); and EXPO Chicago, online (2021). Kim’s work has been acquired by the collections of JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and X Museum, Beijing.