featured artists
the palette’s pulse
Tease your senses with Shinae Kim‘s visual tales.
Never an afterthought, color is the language that establishes the pulse of Shinae Kim’s works. In contrast to the monochrome paintings of renowned Korean abstractionists, Shinae celebrates a deep love for color that was nurtured over time by the significant women in her life.
As a child, the walls of Shinae’s home were covered in white paper to encourage freedom of expression. Her mother, a visual presence often clad in vivid dress suits that cut through the muted tones, encouraged Shinae to “wear color when feeling blue.” Indeed, she emboldened Shinae to experiment sensorially and create new colors for every brushstroke, each of which transforms into a defining moment on canvas.
Shinae’s palette is inspired by her Korean heritage, with vibrant stripes and bold combinations reflecting the beauty of hanbok garments. It is also informed by everyday moments like light catching the surface of a lake, the sunset beyond her window, an orange falling from the kitchen table, or a story her father once told. In this sense, her paintings are akin to records, each one layered with emotional, cultural, and personal impressions that showcase the world according to Shinae.
In Circe’s Bath (2024), Shinae draws upon the historical painting by Peter Paul Rubens, utilizing reds, blacks, and deep, dark hues to depict a mythological battle scene and embody the sheer drama and violence of war. Similarly, After the Rain (2024) is influenced by the Korean War, featuring children playing amidst destruction and women gathering the last remains from the ground. Here, yellows, or more specifically a limey, chartreuse color emerges from a place of personal transformation, reinforcing a sense of healing and emphasizing the possibility for rebirth against the odds.
While working on Shinae’s Peaches (2025), she had Cézanne in mind. In this instance, her use of color manifests as something lush, tender, and irresistible, capturing that same sensual pull of Cézanne’s peaches in the process. In Midnight’s Bloom (2025), a piece tailored for an exhibition at the Daniel et Daniel Tasting Gallery in Toronto, Shinae employs green to evoke the rich and lively atmosphere of the space. Intimate and almost edible, the painting has a way of enveloping diners like a botanical garden, immersing them in the softness, warmth, and absolute abundance of nature.
For Shinae, painting is a means of thinking through the world. In the solitude of her studio, she observes, feels, translates her experiences, and seldom knows how a work will turn out. Instead, she cherishes the spirit of discovery and the element of surprise, layering oil paint, adjusting form, and allowing the surface to evolve until it finds its balance and breathes on its own. Through her use of colors, she wants viewers to feel excitement, inspiration, and a sense of mobility and wonder. These colors utter the unspoken, opening portals into new, mysterious, beautiful, and distinctly emotive realms that even the artist herself could never have imagined.
