Kim Joon

Unlike in the West where tattoos have attained a level of contemporary pop-culture acceptance, In Kim Joon’s home country of South Korea, as in most of Far-East Asia, tattoos still carry a significant social stigma, perhaps because their origin hits closer to home. Or perhaps it is simply a more conservative culture.

While body marking of some type has known to exist in nearly all prehistoric cultures dating back to Neolithic and even Paleolithic times, the tattoo method we know of today — color embedded in the epidermis via needle and ink — originated in the Polynesian island cultures of the South Pacific. The word ‘tattoo’ is of Samoan origin (tatau) and entered the English language from British sailors in the 18th c. who adopted the practice.

Kim began to make art inspired by tattooing when he himself was a tattoo artist during his years in the Korean military, working in the Stick and Poke method.

Since that time, body art has been the dominant inspiration for his creative expression. Early works were more narrowly focused on a social analysis of body art itself, where his more current work has begun to use body art as a vehicle to analyze other social issues regarding self-identity, branding and mass culture.

Over the years Kim Joon’s technique has employed actual tattooing, body decals, body paint, projection and computer simulated post production methods. I’m not even certain of the technique employed in the works shown here.

Above is Louis Vuitton from 2007’s Party series. Below is Chrysler from 2008’s Bird Land series.

What draws me to Joon’s work is not the method or the message, but my appreciation for them on a purely aesthetic level. Many artists attempt to make social comment through their art. Social commentary is, by its very nature, relative to its time. I’ve always been of the mindset that for artwork to remain relevant it must first-and-foremost standup aesthetically. His vibrant use of color and pattern together with the human form, in unexpected composition and juxtaposition, are visually captivating. Sometimes shocking, other times whimsical, they standup on their own, transcending any commentary that may have been their inspiration.

Though most of his shows have been in his native Korea, Joon has shown in Miami, Paris and several times in Southern California. I have inquired as to whether he has any shows planned for New York City. If he has nothing in the works, I hope to bring his work to the attention of some New York galleries in the hopes of instigating a show here.