South Korean artist Young-sung Kim is popular for creating hyperrealistic oil paintings of fish swimming in glass bowls and cups. Kim uses minuscule brushes to pull out every detail of his subjects, whether it be the colorful tail of a beta fish or the shimmering scales of a goldfish. Painted on large canvases, the animals are laid out like living still lifes for the viewer to admire.
The photorealistic paintings are part of Kim’s ongoing series Nothing. Life. Object. that speaks to the disintegration of modern society in the face of the “advanced development of material civilizations.” By juxtaposing living and material things and displaying them as a piece of theater or advertising, Kim wishes to comment on society’s tendency to neglect living organisms.
The painter’s fascination with the beauty of living creatures began when he was a child, as they forced him to stop and contemplate their place in the world. These creatures are now metaphors for life in Kim’s series and they are forced out of their natural setting into an object that cages them.
In this light, the artist’s hyperrealistic work takes on a whole new meaning. While we’re looking at still images of these living creatures, which are put on display for our admiration, we’re forgetting the stress they must undergo when “posing” for the work. It is an irony not lost on Kim, that compares this facade with the falsehood which plagues many people.
Young-sung Kim: Patreon | Instagram | Facebook | Saatchi
COMMENTS