Kiaf Seoul 2024: Why Beijing’s Xi’an Kim is an Artist to Watch

In an interview with Prestige, Xi’an Kim delves into her inspirations, her artistic process and her dream collaborators.

Xi’an Kim’s artistic process involves imagining familiar living things and everyday objects, but transforming them into still-life creations with a texture reminiscent of plastic. “Plastic gives people a very fake but never-fading feeling,” she explains. By distilling the essence of objects and eliminating extraneous details, Kim invites us to contemplate a pure and simplified representation of reality.

Kim, who studied at the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University, and the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, is one of the few Korean artists who explores the nuances between Korean and Chinese cultures in her work. She will present through Artside Gallery at KIAF works that have been crafted using a unique and innovative process. She recently revealed a series of artworks that portray inanimate objects awakening and moving about within a museum during the hours of slumber. “In this exhibition, I am further exploring these concepts by integrating elements of contemporary and futuristic periods to infuse my paintings with an ethereal ambiance,” she elaborates.

Her centre of iNFLuence is surprising. “Children’s art has had a significant iNFLuence on my creations,” she tells us. “Their perspectives are interesting, uncorrected, genuine and strange.” And which contemporary artist/s does she follow? “Cristof Yvoré, Peter Doig, MaMMA Andersson and Leonardo Devito,” are her unexpected reveals. 

London-based Korean artist Minyoung Kim, a friend of Prestige HK, who showed at Kiaf last year, and at Over The Influence earlier this year in Hong Kong, admires Kim’s work. “The objects in her works all seem to have unique textures. Some shapes feel like thick clay, some have the smooth texture of ceramic, and others look like bubble gum. These are all still-life’s on one frame, but the fact that they are flat yet three-dimensional gives me strangely fresh feelings. In addition, the distorted objects expressed through the artist’s intriguing perspective give much imagination, as if they each have their own narrative.”

Curator Maartje Bos, who showed Kim’s work at Marian Cramer Projects in Amsterdam is wowed by her vibe. “It is primal. As if the mucus of the birth canals of her creation has not dried yet. Her work is strong and beautiful! Naive and dirty at the same time.”

Kim will show at the Hive Gallery in Beijing in 2025. Her works seems ripe for luxury collaborators. Has she been approached? “Not yet,” she’s says, and then surprises us again. “I would really like to collaborate with LEGO.” 

You’re collected by the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. Which work of yours did they acquire and what did they like about it?

It was quite unexpected that my work was collected at that time because the direction of my research was quite niche. My research focused on ‘outsider art’, also known as ‘raw art’. I was attracted to works created by people who had not received formal art training. These works might not have much to do with objective aesthetics, so the so-called directness or ugliness of my pieces was fully an expression of my sensibility. As a result of my graduate studies, this demonstrated our school’s acceptance of diversity in art.

Can you explain what drives your artistic process, i.e., how do you decide which pieces/objects to use and ‘recreate’ or distort?

After completing my graduation project series, I tried to shut off everything I had learned and paint simply for the love of painting. At that time, I felt an unprecedented sense of ease. Subsequently, my work underwent significant changes in form. However, in my new creations, I realised that I was still supported by some of the essence I had learned during my graduate studies, just in a different form. During my graduate period, it was about reconstructing the image of people; now, it is about reconstructing things or society. My choices are simply based on everything happening around me.

Who have been the greatest contemporary iNFLuences on your own work and process?

Children’s art has had a significant influence on my creations. Their perspectives are interesting, uncorrected, genuine, and strange.

Which contemporary artists do you follow?

Cristof Yvoré, Peter Doig, MaMMA Andersson, Leonardo Devito.

Your work takes on a sensual or sensorial realm – everyday objects but given a kind of fluid or liquid wonder. What is the effect you’re trying to create?

I feel a sense of novelty towards many new things. I have seen many art students from around the world researching new materials online, which is really fascinating. Sometimes, I find connections between these materials and the meanings I want to express. Each material has its own character—sometimes fragile, sometimes steadfast.

Your work is beauty, healing, or purity, or ‘ugly beauty’. What is its ambition?

My verbal expression is far less effective than my expression through painting, but I try my best to articulate it. Although I sometimes express my panic and sense of loss, I also try to visually beautify these feelings, but they do not disappear. I want to depict all the various emotions in my life, and my works are increasingly resembling a diary, recording each phase of my life. The so-called ‘ugly beauty’ is about a kind of charm. I like things that are humorous, with personality, strong opinions, and even eccentric or out of place — that’s what I see as charm. So, I don’t have a very specific thing I want to express.

Have any luxury brands approached you about collaboration?

Not yet. However, I would really like to collaborate with LEGO

What exhibition/gallery shows do you have upcoming after KIAF 24?

Nothing specific has been determined yet. What is confirmed is a solo exhibition at Hive Gallery in Beijing in 2025.