Joeun Kim Aatchim
"Total Discomfort-Comfort (Sister Translating, Momo Guarding)", 2020
Watercolor and pine soot ink on paper
17 ½ x 12 ½ x 1 ¼ inches
Courtesy of the Artist, François Ghebaly, and Travesia Cuatro Gallery

Selected by Rirkrit Tiravanija

Joeun Kim Aatchim (b. 1989, South Korea) is a painter and multimedia artist based in New York City. Aatchim’s drawings work with Korean silk to produce finely detailed images that indulge the eye and take pleasure in texture, color, and materiality. They have a luminous quality. The scenes that Aatchim details are mundane, such as a fish dinner for two, a pair of withering yellow roses, or a pair of old shoes, but her fine detail and layered composition make these moments in time special, worthy of a second glance. Aatchim received her BFA in Studio Arts from New York University, as well as her MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University. Recent solo exhibitions include Gladstone Seoul (2024); Old Habit Theater (2024); François Ghebaly, New York (2023); and Make Room, Los Angeles (2022). Recent group exhibitions include Lighthouse Works (2023); Jeffrey Deitch, New York (2022); Make Room, Los Angeles (2021); and The Drawing Center, New York (2019). Aatchim has received fellowships at Yaddo (2023); Triangle Art Association (2021); Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2019); The Drawing Center (2018-20); Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture (2017).