Frances Painting

Kim Hyunji, aka KIM KIM KIM, is a painter from South Korea, currently based in Melbourne, Australia. Recognising Australia’s multiculturalism and diversity, Kim’s main subjects are the culturally attuned creatives of her generation, the Millennials. In real life and social media, she observes the impacts of a globalised society - its conveniences, and pitfalls. Her unique style of portraiture is intended to portray the issues this generation is facing. Her accurate yet expressive style embraces figural distortion to capture the internal reality of her subjects with the outward reality of their postures. Kim Hyunji evokes feelings of her generation; alienation, angst, and perhaps hope of a brighter future. Kim is also interested in how social media can be used to create a persona. The internet offers us many tools in how we present our virtual presence to others, making the self-curation of our lives increasingly accessible. Hyunji’s work investigates the cause and effects of curated self-presentation, and how it may be empowering, misleading, or influential. She calls to question what may get left behind after careful thought of self-image and is concerned with what may remain hidden or deemed unfit for external projections of character. In collaboration with her models, Hyunji has created a stunning vignette into the lives of her peers, on canvas, acrylic and paper, beyond the self-curated images projected via social media.