KIM Byoungho

KIM Byoungho (b. 1974) works primarily with sculpture and installation using metal and media. He graduated from the College of Fine Arts at Hongik University in 2000, and from 2002 studied Art Engineering for three years as a researcher at a National Research Laboratory designated by the Ministry of Science and Technology. After this period, he began his artistic career in earnest. Rather than relying on traditional drawing methods, KIM meticulously plans his works through detailed design blueprints and realizes them within a strictly compartmentalized production system. To him, an artwork resembles a product generated through social consensus—such as norms, rules, and systems. He is also deeply interested in the identity of the individual who experiences conflict within these societal systems. As a contemporary subject situated within modern social structures and environments, KIM replicates mechanical precision and seductively refined artistic gestures, revealing a paradoxical critical consciousness.

KIM’s works are characterized by a massive central body from which narrow, elongated tubes extend outward in all directions or along a single axis, emphasizing a sleek sense of motion and the cold materiality of metal. The metal components, precisely fabricated according to the artist’s blueprints and modular parts, follow production methods akin to mass manufacturing systems, reflecting social structures such as customs, conventions, and norms. In addition, KIM presents a distinctive world of sound sculpture by embedding electronic circuits into his metal works, generating mechanical sounds. These restrained mechanical sounds are delicately integrated so as not to disrupt the sculptural form, drifting slowly and simply in scale and tempo. The energy emanating from the sculptures flows between material and immaterial, between the visual and the auditory, creating a force that powerfully envelops the surrounding space.

Trained in printmaking and art engineering, KIM explores the role of the artist itself. He asserts that his works are “products” manufactured in a factory-like system, positioning the artist as a director responsible for concept and direction. Through new visual and technological approaches, KIM continuously seeks an evolving sculptural language in response to the rapid advancement of machinery and engineering technologies. KIM Byoungho has held over ten solo exhibitions, including Lost in Garden (ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL, Seoul, Korea, 2024), The Climax (K11 Art Museum, Shenyang & Wuhan, China, 2022-2023), Enchantment (ARARIO GALLERY SHANGHAI,  Shanghai, China, 2018), Garden in the Garden (ARARIO GALLERY CHEONAN, Cheonan, Korea, 2013), A System (ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL, Seoul, Korea, 2011), Invisible Object (SOMA Museum of Art, 2010), and Two Silences (Cultural Department of Frankfurt, Germany, 2009). KIM's works are part of the collections of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Korea), Amorepacific Museum of Art (Korea), the Cultural Department of Frankfurt (Germany), Seoul National University Museum of Art (Korea), Government Complex (Korea) , Panlong Tiandi (China), New World Development (Hong Kong), and Hyundai Motor Company (Korea), and ARARIO Collection (Korea) among others.