Sang Woo Kim. The Seer, The Seen
Herald St, London
From November 14th, 2024 until February 1st, 2025
Sang Woo Kim’s debut solo show at Herald St in London is an exploration of identity that feels as personal as it is universal. Across the gallery’s two locations, the exhibition, The Seer, The Seen, delves into dualities: one looking inward – quite literally into the artist’s own eyes – and the other outward, exploring his perceptions, surroundings, and what his gaze settles upon.
Born in South Korea and raised in the UK, Sang Woo Kim’s work explores the fractured identity shaped by his experience of living between two cultures. Caught between his traditional Korean upbringing and the surrounding Western world, his practice explores this ongoing tension. Through self-portraits and polyptychs, Kim invites us into his mind, offering glimpses of a life shaped by cultural duality. His works challenge us to pause and truly see – not just him, but ourselves.
At the heart of the exhibition is Kim’s face – repeated, dissected, examined, and reimagined through a series of self-portraits and close-ups. His brushstrokes oscillate between the hyperreal and the expressionistic: a subtle blush of skin, a sweep of lashes, or the sharp tilt of a jawline dissolve into surreal greens and textured, almost rough strokes. In some works, the precision of photographic realism gives way to fantastical distortions, creating a deliberate tension between what is seen and what is felt.
For Kim, these self-portraits are an act of reclaiming agency over his appearance and identity. Having worked as a fashion model for many years, his image has been constantly consumed and shaped by others, often reduced to a product for public viewing. As a first-generation immigrant, his sense of self has also been influenced by experiences of racism, discrimination, and erasure. By painting his face on his own terms, he confronts the reductive narratives placed upon him – as a model, as an immigrant. Kim’s portraits are both deeply personal and boldly confrontational, drawing viewers into his perspective while encouraging them to reflect on their own layered, imperfect, and profoundly human identities.
“In a world where images are constantly generated, shared, and readily accessible, the act of appropriation and the use of found imagery speaks to the overwhelming visual landscape of our time.”
The exhibition expands with Kim’s polyptychs, where he explores his surroundings, encountered images, memories, reimagined marble statues, and film stills. These works feel looser, freer, as though unconstrained by the anatomical precision required of his portraiture. His canvases become visual diaries – wide, searching eyes, disjointed figures, and flowing heads emerge amidst palettes that shift between organic warmth and synthetic coolness. In an age of endless scrolling, perhaps the greatest act of resistance is simply taking the time to truly look.
Kim’s art refuses simple categorisation, presenting identity as layered and multifaceted. Like a contemporary nod to John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, his work reminds us that looking is never a passive act – it demands we question what we see, how we see it, and who controls the narrative. Perhaps the ultimate revelation isn’t in the image itself but in the act of looking back. In this hall of mirrors, Kim’s search for self becomes ours.
For further information heraldst.com.
