Kim uses a variety of mediums to explore human anatomy.
Joy Kim ’24 has never been one to stick to following rigid rules with her art. She remains true to her younger self’s artistic passion by creating free-flowing art that focuses on the body and flesh. Kim described how her childhood love for art persisted as she grew older, and how she finds herself in a flow state when she spends her time and focus on creating art.
“I remember always liking making, drawing, and painting… When I was young, art was my favorite class in school and one of my favorite hobbies. Now, because I spend more time doing it now and I’m older, I can use it differently. I just like doing art. When I make stuff, It’s a perfect distraction for me because I get locked in. I can’t concentrate for an extended period of time, but when I am painting or making stuff, I can concentrate for long periods of time. I like how it puts me in a bubble,” said Kim
Throughout her time at Andover, Kim has taken numerous art classes, including the Art 600 elective “Advanced Studio Art: Self-Directed Studio Practice,” and has submitted work to several student-led magazines. In her opinion, the entry-level art classes at Andover are too heavily structured, inhibiting the students’ ability to unlock their creative potential until they reach higher levels.
“I like having freedom when I work… I just don’t like how you have prompts, and all these art classes revolve around prompts except for Art 600… I think if people actually like drawing or painting, giving them fewer instructions would be appreciated… I don’t have a plan in mind when I start making stuff, I just play with the material. A lot of the things I make are made spontaneously,” said Kim.
Steering away from landscape paintings, which Kim feels are boring and undynamic, much of Kim’s work focuses on exploring the human body through various mediums. Kim is a well-versed oil painter but seeks to branch out and transition into sculpture and other mediums while carrying through her fascination with human anatomy.
“I don’t like looking at [landscape paintings], making them. I like drawing people, humans, flesh and skin… I am very confident in oil painting, but I have moved away from oil painting to 3D mediums. I love working with polymer clay… I love how it resembles skin when you finish baking polymer clay. I like how organic it looks. When you glaze ceramic, it just looks like a ceramic piece. It doesn’t look like something natural… I also have started using fabrics. I take those nylon pantyhose, stuff them with pillows, and sew them together, and it makes this interesting shape,” said Kim.
Kim’s inspiration for her unique style of art does not come from typical museum art, but instead from the art that is hidden in day-to-day life, much of which she has begun to notice more and more of as she has grown older. She described seeing her favorite artist’s installation and the inspiration it had on her work.
“I have a favorite artist, Frederik Heyman. I first found out about him because he did a collaboration with a Korean sunglass brand called Gentle Monster. When you go to their shops, they have really cool installations, so I wanted to know who was behind them… His installations aren’t actual installations, they are digital, and that just makes it cooler… I am trying to experiment more. I want to look into computer science because I wanna learn how to make things in 3D space on the computer,” said Kim.
A STEM enthusiast as well, Kim likes to merge both of her passions by exploring the overlap of biology and technology through her art. She also plays with the complicated dynamics between the natural and the artificial.
“For the things that I make, a lot of it has to do with the body. I am interested in how we use technology to manipulate our natural biological functions… I like science and math. I just like comparing nature to artificiality. I feel like now people do all sorts of artificial things to their bodies, and that has become the definition of natural. I’m very into speculative fiction, it’s futuristic,” said Kim.
Cio Hernandez ’24 describes Kim’s art as a fusion of abstraction and reality that bridges contemporary techniques with futuristic aesthetics. He expressed that Joy’s ability to manipulate reality and express raw emotion within her artwork set her apart, challenging traditional norms and inviting viewers to reconsider their perceptions of the present and future.
“I don’t think there’s anyone else who has her art style. It’s kind of manipulating reality. She manipulates reality in her art. So, I would describe it as contemporary but also futuristic… Joy is not someone who tries to please others. I think the reason why her art is so well received is because it’s so unapologetically hers, and she’s not afraid [of] how [what she creates] will be viewed. She just does it because she’s interested and she loves doing it. So, I think that resonates with people,” said Hernandez.
