{"id":571874,"date":"2026-08-17T16:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T16:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/571874\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T16:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T16:52:15","slug":"cats-take-centre-stage-in-minyoung-kims-surreal-and-subtle-paintings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/571874\/","title":{"rendered":"Cats take centre stage in Minyoung Kim’s surreal and subtle paintings"},"content":{"rendered":"

We often hear about a character or subject matter becoming a focal point in a creative’s work. It can start unknowingly, because you just enjoy drawing a certain thing. Then it creeps back in again and again, and there you have it \u2013 you’re obsessed with drawing one thing, and you become well known for doing it. In the case of Minyoung Kim, it’s cats.<\/p>\n

But don’t expect a cat sitting prettily in the centre of the canvas. Minyoung’s cats are painted with a black paw hooking over the rim of a table, a pair of yellow eyes glinting behind a curtain, a shadow bleeding through a gauzy veil onto an otherwise composed dining scene. In one painting, a claw reaches up to lift the lid off a silver cloche, where a single leaf burns inside the reflection. <\/p>\n

\"Condensed<\/p>\n

Condensed Gaze, 2026 \u00a9 Minyoung Kim<\/p>\n

\"Summer<\/p>\n

Summer Reverie, 2025 \u00a9 Minyoung Kim<\/p>\n

\"Behind<\/p>\n

Behind the Veil, 2026 \u00a9 Minyoung Kim<\/p>\n

In another, a watermelon balanced on draped blue fabric turns out to have a paw gripping the cloth beneath it \u2013 the cat itself never fully in view. Some are more visible, like a black cat crouched low over a plate of cherries, eyes locked on the viewer, one paw already reaching for the fruit like it’s just been caught red-handed. But most of the time, they’re depicted subtly. “Cats are a recurring motif in my work, though the way they show up has evolved. Instead of capturing them directly, they now tend to exist as a shadow, a paw peeking out from behind an object, or just a subtle presence in the room,” Minyoung explains.<\/p>\n

That sensibility of creating a sense of calm with the feeling of something faintly wrong extends to her objects, too. A teapot grows a human-like face and a clawed hand of its own; a jar takes on a human expression; a lobster with a pair of cat eyes. “I’m interested in that point where the familiar starts to shift into something a little stranger,” she says. <\/p>\n

Minyoung grew up in South Korea, completing her BA and MA in Fine Art there before moving to London in 2019 for an MFA at the Slade School of Fine Art, where she graduated in 2021. She’s worked in London as a full-time artist ever since. She credits the move with reshaping her approach to painting: “It really pushed me to become more experimental, trust my visual instincts and develop a practice that feels deeply personal.”<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

Big Fish, 2026 \u00a9 Minyoung Kim<\/p>\n

\"Cherries<\/p>\n

Cherries with Cat, 2025 \u00a9 Minyoung Kim<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Jar, 2025 \u00a9 Minyoung Kim<\/p>\n

Colour is as important as the subjects on the canvas, and she considers it before anything else. “I often find myself visualising the overall palette before the composition is even fully locked down,” she says. Sometimes a painting begins because a particular combination of tones has caught her attention, with the scene built out from there. <\/p>\n

After that, she sketches on her iPad or in notebook thumbnails before mapping a loose version onto canvas and painting quickly, resisting a tightly rendered underdrawing in favour of letting the piece shift as she works. “I prefer to let the piece evolve organically as I work. While painting, I’m constantly tweaking the relationship between colour, light, and the objects themselves until everything feels balanced.”<\/p>\n

She highlights two paintings from her recent solo show Whispers Inside Things, at Enari Gallery in Amsterdam. In Behind the Veil, a cat’s shadow filters through translucent fabric over a dining table, its ambiguity doing all the work: “It feels as though something has just happened, or is right on the verge of happening, without ever fully explaining what’s happening.” <\/p>\n

\"Negotiation,<\/p>\n

Negotiation, 2024 \u00a9 Minyoung Kim<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Bite, 2026 \u00a9 Minyoung Kim<\/p>\n

\"Under<\/p>\n

Under Cloth, 2024 \u00a9 Minyoung Kim<\/p>\n

In Burning Leaf, a polished cloche reflects the room around it while a leaf smoulders inside \u2013 a cat’s paw creeping in to lift the lid. “I wanted it to feel inviting at first, but gradually reveal a more mysterious undertone the longer you spend with it.”<\/p>\n

Minyoung’s not interested in dictating what any of it means. “If someone lingers in front of a painting and starts weaving their own story around it, then I feel the work has done its job.”<\/p>\n

Next up, there’s a solo presentation with Enari Gallery at Untitled Art Fair Miami this December \u2013 her first solo showing at an American art fair \u2013 and a body of new work she’s currently deep in the studio building towards.<\/p>\n

\"Minyoung<\/p>\n

Minyoung Kim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We often hear about a character or subject matter becoming a focal point in a creative’s work. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-571874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}