Jaewook Lim

About

Jaewook Lim (b. 1995) is a multidisciplinary artist based in London and Korea. He began his artistic journey by studying art education at the undergraduate level and working in primary education. Lim pursued further studies at Hongik University in Korea, earning a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture and he recently graduated from the Royal College of Art in London with a Master of Arts in Sculpture. Lim’s work explores ambiguous boundary between privacy and publicity based on identity and symbolism through sculpture, painting, and video installations.

When a piece containing the artist’s personal narrative, framed within an object considered to be part of a private space, meets the audience, it ceases to be private and assumes a public character. The secretive stories that the artist had wished to keep hidden behind closed doors are displayed as if on a stage, with the door now open. These stories transform from secrets into public facts, and the artist’s inner world becomes externalized.

As an artist who projects myself into my work, honesty is the most crucial element. However, confronting and expressing myself as who I am is not always easy. Sometimes it is due to shame, other times due to fear. The wit, based on symbolism and metaphor, often seen in my work, serves as a means to protect myself from these elements, providing the driving force for me to be more honest. Symbols and metaphors drawn from social and cultural contexts guide my choice of objects that align with my thematic consciousness. Wit gathers various properties of these objects around my central themes. Additionally, wit based on symbolism and metaphor acts as a door between my inner and outer worlds, serving as a mediator that connects my thematic consciousness with the act of creation.

instagram : @artist._.jay