Hyunjeong Lim

ATELIER AKI is pleased to present 《Archive of the Mind: Pacific Crossing》, the long-awaited solo exhibition of Hyunjeong Lim (b. 1987), a leading figure in contemporary landscape painting. This exhibition marks her first return to Korea in two years and will be on view from August 28 through October 4. Through the practice of intuitive drawing guided by spontaneous gestures and the flow of the unconscious, Lim translates emotions, memories, and imagined realms that, though unseen, are deeply perceived, into fantastical, otherworldly scenes. Celebrated for her solo exhibitions in London, Seattle, and San Francisco, Lim unveils 20 new works that invite viewers on a journey distilled through her intuitive drawing and distinct visual language, shaped by her lived experiences and inner transformations across Korea, the U.S. West Coast, and Europe.

Hyunjeong Lim, Lake day, 2024, acrylic, oil on canvas, 76.2 x 101.6 cm

Hyunjeong Lim’s work does not follow a linear or logical method of arranging and storing memories or experiences. Rather than presenting a complete narrative or singular interpretation, her compositions unfold as open, non-linear structures—fluid in nature and guided by the flow of memory, sensation, emotion, and dreams. The juxtaposition of living creatures, uncanny figures, and strange images drawn from everyday life may appear disconnected at first glance, yet within the work, they form invisible, organic connections and new systems of meaning. This approach invites viewers to drift across the canvas rather than fixate on a single point, allowing them to discover their own connections and meanings through the rhythm and flow of their own perception. Notably, her recurring motifs of islands and oceans embody this duality of isolation and connection, stillness and movement. In the <Islands of the Mind> series, fragments of emotion and memory may appear to exist independently, but are in fact subtly intertwined like the deep, unseen currents of water, evoking in the viewer a recognition of similar patterns and connections within their own inner landscape.

Hyunjeong Lim, Landscape with a rabbit, 2022, acrylic and ink on paper, 26 x 36 cm

“I visualize imagined inner landscapes through intuitive drawing, allowing images to emerge spontaneously as my hand moves. This process reflects my lived experiences and emotions, while also seeking to depict a fantastical, surreal world through painting.”

2025 Hyunjeong Lim

The exhibition title ‘Archive of the Mind’ reflects Lim’s ongoing practice of collecting and layering fragments of lived experience, emotional shifts, sensory impressions shaped by the cultural and psychological boundaries she has navigated since relocating to the West Coast of the United States in 2018. Her canvases act as a personal archive, a space where internal records of memory take visual form through her creative practice. While Lim’s earlier cultural foundation was shaped by time spent in Korea, London, and Europe, her experiences in San Francisco and Seattle introduced a new range of influences. The natural landscape, layered communities, and emotional tension between the familiar and the unfamiliar have become central to her evolving practice. In her 2020 solo exhibition 《Strangers in a Strange World》(2020, San Francisco), Lim explored the diverse environments of California and the complex emotions of being a foreigner through experimental visual forms. Following this, her 2025 solo exhibition Trip West (2025, Seattle), she drew inspiration from the vast and overwhelming landscapes of the American West’s national parks to construct an imagined space where real and internal landscapes converged. Lim’s artistic exploration serves as both an homage to Northern Renaissance masters Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and a visual experiment that brings together the dreamlike utopias of East Asian landscape painting with the vast wilderness of the American West. On her canvas, myth, reality, and personal narrative freely unfold in layered dialogue.

임현정 Hyunjeong Lim, Trip West, 2023, acrylic, oil on canvas, 121.9 x 274.3 cm

The subtitle ‘Pacific Crossing’ is more than a reference to geographic movement or change. Inspired by the 2018 exhibition《Thomas Cole’s Journey: Atlantic Crossings》 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it echoes the spirit of Thomas Cole, who emigrated from 19th-century Britain to America and redefined the aesthetics of American landscape painting by weaving together the expansive nature of the New World with the compositional principles of classic European art. In addition, the vast scale of nature, shifting light and weather, and coastal imagery in her work are drawn from lived travel experiences, yet they also evoke a visual reinterpretation of the dreamlike ideals found in East Asian art, reflecting the spirit of Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land, where reality and fantasy fluidly coexist.

Hyunjeong Lim, Float, 2023, acrylic and ink on paper, 60.9 x 45.7 cm

The exhibition 《Archive of the Mind: Pacific Crossing》 does not present memory as a fixed or standardized repository, but instead reveals Hyunjeong Lim’s ever-shifting and expanding inner landscape. It explores the possibility of genuine dialogue through art at the intersection of life and art, reality and imagination, self and other. The deeply personal images constructed on the canvas invite viewers to bring their own interpretations and emotions, transforming the work into a new kind of archive. In doing so, the exhibition suggests that despite cultural differences and unfamiliar inner worlds, meaningful connections can still emerge. Through this journey, viewers are invited to discover their own emotional topographies and internal shifts, experiencing the archive as a deeply personal and reflective space.

Hyunjeong Lim, Red Rocks and Buddhas, 2025, oil, acrylic on canvas, 121.9 x 182.8 cm

Hyunjeong Lim (b. 1987) studied Western painting at Seoul National University and earned her MFA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins in London. She has presented solo exhibitions internationally, including Gallery 4Culture (Seattle, 2025), A-Lounge (Seoul, 2023), Pacific Medical Center (San Francisco, 2020), the OCI Museum of Art (Seoul, 2016), and James Freeman Gallery (London, 2015). Her work has also been featured in notable group exhibitions at the Korean Cultural Center in Washington D.C. (2023), Seoul National University Museum of Art (2023), the Children’s Gallery at the Busan Museum of Art (2018), and SeMA Storage (2017). Lim has participated in several international residency programs, including the 10th Nanji Art Studio residency at the Seoul Museum of Art (2016), as well as residencies in Germany and Japan. Her work is held in major public collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (Art Bank), and the OCI Museum of Art.

ATELIER AKI
1F / B1F, Galleria Foret 32-14, Seoulsup 2-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
+82 2 464 7710

WEBSITE  INSTAGRAM  ARTSY