SIM Raejung

SIM Raejung (b. 1983) translates a cynical narrative infused with everyday feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and powerlessness using her unique artistic language. From the various uncomfortable experiences encountered daily to somewhat bizarre fantasies, the emotions and thoughts pouring from the artist's soul swiftly transform into images. These images are expressed in their purest form, emanating a rhythmic yet dark ambiance. Her animation-style visual works take the form of a series of drawings where characters seem oblivious to their circumstances or pain, mindlessly eating, excreting, being severed, with bodies fragmented and entrails swaying and proliferating. Raejung's work is rhythmical, witty, and remains true to human instinct. Viewers are invited into a strange world where logical judgment and common sense do not apply, reminiscent of Antonin Artaud's Theater of Cruelty or the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini. They experience a profound catharsis and freedom akin to that offered by B-grade or horror films.

 

SIM Raejung was born in Daegu, Korea in 1983. She received her BFA and MFA in Fine Arts at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, Korea. She has held solo exhibitions at ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL (Seoul, Korea, 2023), Space Cadalogs (Seoul, Korea, 2023), ARARIO MUSEUM in SPACE (Seoul, Korea, 2019), and Art Space Hue (Paju, Korea, 2016). She has participated in group exhibitions at Songeun (Seoul, Korea, 2023; 2021), Gyeonggi Museum of Art (Ansan, Korea, 2021),  ARARIO GALLERY CHEONAN  (Cheonan, Korea, 2020), ARARIO MUSEUM in SPACE (Seoul, Korea, 2017), Savina Museum of Contemporary Art (Seoul, Korea, 2016), SOMA Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea, 2015) and Leeum Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea, 2014), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Gwacheon, Korea, 2013), Kumho Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea, 2012), Sungkok Art Museum (Seoul, Korea, 2010), and more. She worked as a resident artist at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France in 2018, SeMA Nanji Residency, Seoul, Korea in 2015, MMCA Residency Goyang, Goyang, Korea, and Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo, Japan in 2013. She gained attention for being selected in Leeum Museum's Art Spectrum 2014 and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art's Young Exploration 2013. In 2021, she was selected as one of the participants of the 21st SongEun Art Award Exhibition. Her works are collected by institutions such as the Seoul Museum of Art, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Art Bank of National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, and ARARIO MUSEUM.

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