About

 

HannaMi Kim

HannaMi Kim is a painter and illustrator who has taken the plunge into the world of art after successful careers in banking, publishing and owning a hip café.

Having lived for spells in Korea and Hong Kong and now happy to be in Singapore, her art reflects her endless optimism and abundance of energy. She inter-weaves lines, colors and objects with energy, some of it tinged with shades of tradition and culture, but always reflecting the artist’s character and perceived world view, shaped by her life journey and myriad experiences.

Currently, HannaMi Kim has three bodies of work.

Coming Up Roses is a collection that casts an eye to the artist’s cultural background which in turn is shaped by each of the countries she has lived in. Although inspiration comes from 17th Century Korean folk art, the artist’s creative and fun style – depictions of exaggerated oversized peonies, flattened objects and multiple perspectives – deliver freshness and quirkiness.

These minimal and abstract paintings are quiet, subtle and draw on Asian concepts of luck and objects that attract abundance. They reveal that there are indeed quiet moments in the outwardly frenzied life of the artist in a busy city.

It’s the Little Things is a series of works inspired by life in Singapore. HannaMi Kim unabashedly declares her love for her adopted homeland, and credits the lush and verdant landscape for inspiring this body of her art. Without the tropical plants and trees on roadsides and in the beautiful gardens, HannaMi Kim declares that she would not be an artist today.

In these works, she seems to have a microscopic insight into the inner most reaches of the plants she admires, and uses bright crisp ink to fill dynamic forms which contrasts against creamy earthy colors of the background. This creates strange yet intriguing forms that are paintings of life amidst serenity.

In Mid-Air with No Landing evokes timeless moments where flakes of soft feathers appear on canvas with oil, or on paper with ink, transforming into solid forms. The whole process of In Mid-Air with No Landing is meditative and zen, where contrasting firm and soft forms are developed feather by feather, and negative space is provided as in Chinese Ink Painting.

With no horizons, the painted objects float in mid-air, and aloofness is created by the stark white backgrounds.

HannaMi Kim works from her third floor studio in a posh district in her beloved Singapore.