Minjung Kim in Milan: art between repetition and innovation in Robilant+Voena exhibition

Milan is preparing to host the new solo exhibition of Minjung Kim (Gwangju, 1962), one of the finest voices in contemporary art, at the Milan headquarters of Robilant+Voena. Repetitions, this is the title of the exhibition, will be on view from April 2 to May 30, 2025, and will offer an immersion in Kim’s artistic language, between traditional materials and a modern aesthetic. Distributed among the gallery’s four rooms, twelve works created over the past decade highlight the distinctive character of her research. The Korean artist, known for her use of burned, cut and layered Hanji paper, presents a selection of works from some of her most celebrated series, including Mountain, Timeless and The Street. The result is a dynamic balance between gestures and extreme precision, a trait that has made Kim a prominent figure on the international scene. The choice of works in the exhibition reflects the duality that runs through all his production. Order and chaos, color and form, expression and representation meet and balance each other in a continuous interplay, bringing to light a visual harmony that dialogues with Milan’s eclecticism. The energy of the city, with its fusion of tradition and innovation, resonates in Kim’s canvases, where elements of Eastern culture intertwine with Western influences.

It is no coincidence that her sensibility has attracted the attention of world-renowned brands. Her collaboration with Dior for the seventh edition of Dior Lady Art is a concrete testimony to this. For the occasion, Kim created four limited editions of the fashion house’s famous bag, inspired by her best-known works. Each piece is a perfect synthesis of art and fashion, in which delicate chromatic tones and textural textures transform an accessory into a work to wear. Technique is one of the fundamental elements of his work. Each composition stems from a meticulous process: a single painting can be formed from thousands of paper fragments, which the artist superimposes with almost ritualistic precision. The works exhibited in Repetitions recount this dedication with extraordinary clarity. Mountain (2022), for example, evokes a dreamscape dissolving into infinity, while Zip (2025) reflects on continuity and transformation through the use of color and superimposition.

The exhibition comes at a significant moment in Kim’s career. After the success of her recent exhibition at Forum Paracelsus in St. Moritz in the winter of 2023-24, the artist returns to Milan, a city that has played a crucial role in her path. Born in Gwangju, South Korea, Kim moved to Italy in the 1980s to study at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1991. Her training is an encounter between Eastern tradition and Western research: growing up with calligraphy and brush painting, she developed a strong attraction to the great European and American abstractionists of the 20th century, including Lucio Fontana, Alberto Burri, Paul Klee and Franz Kline.

The dialogue between different worlds is evident throughout his work. Some works seem to vibrate with an inner energy, such as Order and Impulse (2022), which recalls the biological cycles of growth and decay. Predestination (2014), on the other hand, captures a lighter, more poetic vision, with small roses suspended in the air, carried by the wind like spores of life. A more gestural side emerges with Phasing (2024), of which the exhibition presents two large-scale works. Surfaces that appear animated by firm brushstrokes actually conceal a meticulous process of paper layering. With Repetitions, Robilant+Voena offers a comprehensive cross-section of Kim’s research, emphasizing her ability to combine philosophy and technique, abstraction and rigor. The installation amplifies the sense of rhythm and meditation inherent in her works. In an increasingly fast-paced and fragmented world, the exhibition serves as an oasis of stillness, an invitation to rediscover the beauty of repetition and the depth hidden in detail.

“In the Phasing series,” says the artist, “there are always two layers of very thin paper applied over a thicker layer underneath. The first layer is pure calligraphy, quick and instinctive, while the second layer involves carefully mapping the first strokes with a pencil. This second step is the opposite of the first: delicate, slow and meditative. Next, I burn the edge of the drawing. The layers of paper are glued together, resulting in what looks like an errant facsimile, creating an illusion of spatial depth.”

Notes on the artist

Minjung Kim, a native of Gwangju, Republic of Korea, developed a strong artistic inclination from childhood, supported by her family and honed under the guidance of several masters, including renowned watercolorist Yeongyun Kang. Between the ages of thirteen and twenty-nine he deepened his study of Oriental calligraphy, while in 1980 he enrolled at Hongik University in Seoul. There he completed his master’s degree in 1985, with a thesis devoted to the four basic materials of ink painting: mulberry Hanji paper, brush, ink pigment, and stone for grinding it. In the late 1980s he moved to Milan to delve into the Western artistic tradition, and in 1991 he graduated from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Since then he lived and worked in Italy for over thirty-five years, exhibiting internationally in countries such as Italy, Switzerland, China, England, the United States and Israel. Notable among his most significant recognitions is the exhibition The Light, The Shade, The Depth, presented in 2015 at Palazzo Caboto during the Venice Biennale.

His works have been exhibited in prestigious museums and galleries around the world, including Fondation Maeght (Saint-Paul-de-Vence, 2024), Princeton University Art Museum (USA, 2020), Hill Art Foundation (New York, 2020), Langen Foundation (Germany, 2019), Gwangju Museum of Art (Korea, 2018), Musée des Arts Asiatiques (Nice, 2017), Hermès Foundation (Singapore, 2017), OCI Museum of Art (Seoul, 2015), Palazzo Caboto (Venice, 2015), Oko (New York, 2014), Studio d’Arte Raffaelli (Trento, 2014), MACRO (Rome, 2012), Henry Moore Institute (Leeds, 2008), Guanshanyue Art Museum (China, 2007), Fondazione Palazzo Bricherasio (Turin, 2006) and Museo Comunale d’Arte Moderna di Ascona (Switzerland, 2003). In addition, he participated in the Gwangju Biennale in 2004, 2018 and 2023 editions. His works are part of numerous international public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the British Museum (London), Tate Modern (London), Cornell University’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art (New York), the Asia Society Museum (New York), the Fondazione Palazzo Bricherasio (Turin), the UniCredit Art Collection (Milan), the Fundación Helga de Alvear (Spain), the Swiss Re Art Collection (Zurich), the OCI Museum of Art (Seoul) and the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (Seoul).

Minjung Kim in Milan: art between repetition and innovation in Robilant+Voena exhibition

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