We were lucky to catch up with Young Woong Kim (Herok) recently and have shared our conversation below.
Young Woong, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
It was natural for me to play with art materials when I was a kid because my mother ran an art academy. Many art materials were all around me all the time so it was like a toy to me. I was always the last child to be at the academy after all the children left. While I waited on my mom to finish work I always drew something and it was a great time to use all the materials that I want. I think that time, when I was young, was really impressionable to me and influenced me to consider pursuing art. Also, I met a great art teacher in middle school who supported me to go to art high school.
In my last semester at Korea University, I made fine art as a graduation project, and since then my passion for art has grown. I decided to study in the United States and majored in illustration at SCAD, which gave me more passion for creation. I got a chance to do art exhibitions while studying and making art in the USA which immersed me further in art.
Young Woong, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am an artist who reveals my inner vision with my work, expressing the complexity of emotion through the filter of the subconscious using digital art and painting. My work is often based on an inner narrative or on something that’s hard to say, like secrets or feelings. There exists an obscure gap in communication that is beyond mere language. When talking about friendship, love, and abstract parts that are difficult to explain clearly, the expanse of this gap becomes evident. It is within this gap where art for me finds a purpose. Utilizing traditional and digital mediums, I aim to express the imperfect nature of communication with semi-abstract and figurative images, creating a landscape of metaphorical language.
My art is like a diary and poem that captures impactful moments, feelings, thoughts, and what I see so I use many objects which can be interpreted in various ways.
Recently I’m collaborating with the amazing photographer Micheal O’Brien. The inner anxiety and fear of humans have been subject to me for a while in this collaboration. We combined my digital painting with his gorgeous film portraits to express this. As emotion is refined through the forms, the unconscious balance of the mask flows freely and is the unique focal point that reveals pure emotion.
This exhibition will be around May or June. I look forward to visiting with you there.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I still think about the particular goal or mission of my art journey. I think firstly I’m still growing artistically as my taste is changing all the time so I have many different types of work at the moment. However, I think this is all the process of discovering what I really want to make. I don’t want to lose my passion for creating. Ultimately, I want to have exhibitions all over the world and be a sold-out artist if I can.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
The art process sometimes put me in a turbulent period. Resilience from a hard time is really important to artists who have emotional ups and downs. To me, I usually get ideas from the emotional period more than when I was happy. These kinds of feelings are kind of my subject of art. Also, I try to care of myself mentally by working out. When I get overwhelmed I stop my work, go outside, take a bike, run, and play soccer. Moving my body and just forgetting about my work while working out is so helpful to me. Sometimes after sweating, I feel fresher and get ideas and motivation.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.herokstudio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herok/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/young-woong-kim-herok-7331a41b8/