Kim Beom
Kim Beom (1963, born and based in Seoul, South Korea) is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work questions the perception of everyday reality. Through the use of absurdist scenarios, his visual language playfully reveals the threshold between truth and fiction.
Belonging to a generation of artists who experienced South Korea’s transition to democracy, Kim witnessed the disconnect between authoritarian systems and the reality on the ground, particularly in how knowledge is circulated and reproduced. These themes are explored through a practice that spans video, installation, artist book, drawing and sculpture. In his widely exhibited The Educated Objects (2010) series, he constructs comical scenes of inanimate objects as pedagogical subjects. Yellow Scream (2012), a video work in the style of educational television programs, delivers deadpan instructions on how to create abstract paintings.
Kim obtained his BFA and MFA from Seoul National University, Seoul in 1986 and 1988 respectively, and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 1991. His work is held in numerous collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Cleveland Museum of Art; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Museum für Kommunikation, Bern; Seoul Museum of Art; Ho-Am Art Museum, Seoul; and National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon.
Notable solo exhibitions include How to Become a Rock (2023), Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul; Tireless Refrain (2013), Nam June Paik Art Center, Yongin; Objects Being Taught They Are Nothing But Tools (2010), Cleveland Museum of Art; The Demon of Comparisons (2009), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; The Cover of a Book is the Beginning of a Journey (2008), Arnolfini, Bristol; and Unexpected Shape (2002), Art Sonje, Gyeongju. The artist has also participated in major international festivals including Small World (2023), 13th Taipei Biennial; The past, the present, the possible (2015), 12th Sharjah Biennial; The Experience of Art (2005), 51st Venice Biennale; and Unmapping the Earth (1997), 2nd Gwangju Biennale.
Kim has had multiple residencies at the STPI Workshop in 2016, 2023, 2025; the 2016 residency culminated in the exhibition Random Life (2017).
Regarded as one of the leading print workshops globally, STPI supports the work of artists through experimentation. At STPI, we see ourselves as collaborators rather than traditional printmakers or papermakers. Our workshop operates like an open kitchen: we have our standard menu of techniques and equipment, but we are always ready to adapt and experiment. Whether a work on paper or something entirely unexpected, our focus is on problem-solving alongside the artists to bring their vision to life.
