"제 그림은 꿈에서 꾼 기억과도 같습니다. 익숙하지만 손에 잡히지 않고, 마치 잠에서 깨어나는 순간조차 아직 꿈의 일부인 것처럼요."
"My paintings are like memories from a dream—familiar yet intangible, as if waking up were still part of the dream."
Vitae
Yeji Kim (*1999, South Korea) is a contemporary painter whose practice explores surreal imagery, cultural mythologies, and transformation. Originally drawn to philosophy, she developed an intellectual approach that later found its expression through painting.
In 2018, she moved to Germany to study painting with Prof. Helen Verhoeven at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (HfBK). Formative periods in London and Antibes further shaped her artistic development. Since summer 2026, she has continued her studies in Paris.
Visual Identity
Her paintings depict surreal worlds where human, animal, and hybrid figures merge in unstable constellations. Her work explores transformation, ambiguity, and emotional tension, dissolving the boundaries between bodies, identities, and species. Oscillating between tenderness and violence, vulnerability and imagination, her paintings draw on mythology not as fixed narratives but as fluid systems of symbols and change.
Working primarily in oil and acrylic on canvas, she builds layered, atmospheric compositions through a slow and meticulous process. Shaped by a transcultural perspective between Korea and Europe, Yeji Kim creates paintings that reflect the fragile balance of existence, where myth, body, and imagination continuously intertwine.
Education
- École Nationale Supérieure Des Beaux-Arts, Paris (France) | Fine Arts (2026 - today)
- HfBK University of Fine Arts, Dresden (Germany) | Fine Arts (2022 - 2026)
- Keimyung University, Daegu (South Korea) | Philosophy (2018 - 2019)
Exhibitions
- Grass is Greener Gallery, “On the Other Side” | Leipzig, 2026
- 10. Künstlermesse KMDD | Dresden, 2026
- Group Exhibition, „Sand unter den Füßen“ | Dresden, 2025
- Group Exhibition, „MARATHON“ | Dresden, 2024
- Galerie Drei, „Alles Liebe, deine“ | Dresden, 2024
- Annual Group Exhibition at HfBK | Dresden, 2023
Contact
- E-mail: contact@yeji-kim.com
- Instagram: @ji.ye.ji