Kim Yun Shin (b. 1935, Wonsan, North Korea; lives and works in Seoul, South Korea) is a multidisciplinary artist known for her dynamic sculpture and painting, which often unfold through a series of interactions with nature. Growing up amidst the backdrop of Korea’s tumultuous history in the 20th century, Kim has established herself as a pioneering figure in the post-war South Korean art scene, overcoming societal norms to carve out a space for herself as a first-generation woman sculptor. Despite facing challenges in a male-dominated field, she ventured to Paris to pursue her artistic aspirations, taught at various universities, and co-founded the Korean Sculptress Association in 1974 to support emerging artists. Partly influenced by her nomadic early life, her work reflects a fearless exploration of diasporic cultures—from France, Mexico, and Brazil, to her adoptive home of Argentina, where she established Museo Kim Yun Shin, the first Korean immigrant art museum. Her journey from turbulent beginnings during the Japanese colonial period and Korean War to becoming a trailblazer in Korean contemporary art reflects the artist’s personal resilience and commitment to artistic innovation.

Across six decades, Kim has developed an aesthetic that engages with the fundamental qualities of materials and nature, navigating themes of confrontation, introspection, and coexistence. Central to her artistic expression is the use of solid wood, a primary medium through which Kim envisions the structural and spiritual elements of antiquity and the primordial world. In doing so, she visualizes the intersection between nature, time, and history, reconsidering the very essence of human existence. Her early sculptures from the 1970s are deeply rooted in traditional Korean hanok architecture, which uses a distinctive technique that joins wooden blocks without nails. In her Stacking Wishes series, the artist also explores traditions of vertical stacking in Korean and Latin American totemism. This notion of organic connection and her interest in East Asian philosophy merge in her iconic Add Two Add One, Divide Two Divide One series, which she began in the late 1970s. The terms “add” and “divide” originate from the philosophical concept of yin (division and fragmentation) and yang (addition and integration). Through a meticulous yet intuitive process—in which Kim “adds” her soul into the solid wood and “divides” the space between the bark and inner wood to create a complete whole—the artist delves into raw materiality and uncovers a newfound vitality.