Born in Changwon, South Korea (1964), Heryun Kim explores nature, humanity, and historical identity. Parallel to Kim’s exploration of Korean prehistory is an extensive body of work inspired by the visual simplicity of Korean script. Kim reimagines traditional Korean art and ancient culture through the invention of a new abstract language, that bridges ancient and modern. Kim’s work is largely influenced by her sensorial experience and an attempt to give physical form to a spoken landscape.

Heryun Kim majored in German Language & Literature and Art Theory at Seoul National University (1988), then studied painting at the Berlin University of the Arts in Germany (1993) and received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Berlin University of Technology (1998). Select solo exhibitions include: Shoes for Art, Stadtmuseum Berlin Ephraim-Palais, Berlin (2005); Letters Carved on Painting, Soma Museum, Seoul (2011); and Sound of Silence - German Forest, Kunsthalle Dresden, Dresden (2019); among others. Her works are housed in numerous institutions, including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, South Korea; the Louis Vuitton Foundation, France; the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, South Korea; and the Jeonnam Museum of Art, South Korea.