Subeom Lim

LIM Subeom (b. 1997) unfolds his artistic practice from the premise of imagining beings that resist definition, inhabiting the unstable terrain between the known and the unknown. Rooted in a deep curiosity about the origins of nature and matter, his work speculates on the consciousness of all things that might have existed long before humanity emerged. He approaches the world as an organic network of relations, positioning himself within a vast and interdependent whole. The worlds he constructs extend beyond the limits of perception—at the thresholds of boundaries—populated by entities that evade capture through human language or cognition. Figures reminiscent of psychopomps, oscillating between the divine and the monstrous, appear alongside golem-like forms shaped from clay and dust. These beings collapse the binaries of nature and humanity, animate and inanimate, operating as mediators between realms and as embodiments of their inherent duality. LIM’s pictorial spaces expand outward without center or periphery, their compositions built through the cutting, collaging, and overpainting of drawings. Across segmented canvases, connections proliferate and images evolve in unpredictable directions, enacting both an inquiry into uncertain futures and a speculative mapping of worlds beyond the visible. Refusing resolution, the works remain open to multiple narratives and interpretations, sustaining a state of perpetual becoming. In this way, LIM’s practice becomes a site for encounters with the unknown—an ongoing record of imagination and reflection in the face of an ever-shifting world. Born in Gwangju in 1997, LIM received his BFA in Fine Art from Jeonbuk University in 2022. He has held solo exhibitions at Space Vintle(Gwangju, Korea, 2025), Sahng-up Gallery (Seoul, Korea, 2024; 2023) and Art Space House (Gwangju, Korea, 2022). He has participated in group exhibitions at Space DDF (Gwangju, Korea, 2025; 2022), 15th Gwangju Biennale Gwangju Pavilion (Gwangju, Korea, 2024), ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL (Seoul, Korea, 2024), Horangasinamu Glass Polygon and Base Polygon (Gwangju, Korea, 2023), Daejeon Museum of Art (Daejeon, Korea, 2023), Sansu Ssari (Gwangju, Korea, 2021) and more. He worked as a resident artist at Gwangju Museum of Art, Korea in 2022. His works are collected by Jeonnam Museum of Art, Gwangju Museum of Art and ARARIO Collection.