Last night I had the opportunity to check out ART DUBAI and saw a couple of art works that really called my attention. One of my favorites was a piece at Opera Gallery in the DIFC by Korean artist Yim Tae Kyu who is apparently known for his unconventional method of classical eastern painting.

His painting demonstrate a busy utopian world, the colorful scenes of which are based around the pleasures of life. By juxtaposing the reality of cultural and social issues with their fictional representation, Yim Tae Kyu is an excellent storyteller that disguises the message with his intricate child-like animation. Yim is also an avid dreamer, which helps him attain the optimistic energy in his works.

“I first started with black and white works, looking at people alienated from society. But I then began to see that these people have dreams, hopes, and aspirations. I felt marginalized because I was an artist, but I also started to have my own dreams; that’s when I started using color.”

Yim Tae Kyu, on his ‘Marginal Man’ series

Soon after his graduation, Yim was exhibited in solo and group shows in Korea, Paris, New York and China. His paintings were auctioned at Christie’s Hong Kong, and his work is part of the main collections of the KUMHO Museum and the Song Eun Art & Culture Foundation. Yim’s talent is continuously being recognized with awards, the most recent one of which was given by Korea’s National Museum of Contemporary Art.

Yim Tae Kyu was born in 1976 in Seoul. He lives and works in Beijing.