SUNGHO KIM

Kim Sung Ho is a contemporary painter who has worked with books as his primary motif since 2007. A graduate of the Department of Painting at Hongik University Graduate School, Kim has developed a distinctive body of work over nearly two decades, consistently exploring the book as a central subject.

For Kim, the book is not merely an object of reading. It functions as a structure in which human knowledge, culture, art, and memory are accumulated, and as a point of departure for constructing pictorial space. Although the books in his paintings resemble actual shelves and volumes, they also operate as architectural structures, fields of color, and rhythmic elements that organize the entire composition.

Kim’s work does not remain within the realm of realistic depiction. Art historical references, symbols of popular culture, and elements of traditional Korean painting appear together on his canvases, allowing images from different times and cultural contexts to coexist within a single pictorial order. These images are not used simply as quotations or decoration; rather, they serve as devices through which layers of cultural experience and visual memory are revealed.

In his early *Volume Tower* series, Kim focused on the structure of books and the concept of accumulation. In the later *Retrotopia* series, he incorporated elements of Joseon-era chaekgado and minhwa, connecting traditional visual forms with contemporary imagery. In his recent *Cover* series, the cover and image of the book move to the center of the composition, further expanding the visual possibilities of the book as a medium.

Through vivid color, meticulous composition, and the familiar motif of the book, Kim explores how painting can contain, reconstruct, and reimagine the world. Grounded in the long-standing themes of accumulated knowledge and culture, his work connects contemporary visual experience with painterly imagination, establishing a singular artistic language.

Kim’s works are included in the collections of the Art Bank of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, the Park Soo Keun Museum, and the Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art, among others.