biography
Born in Seoul, South Korea, the artist received her BFA in Fine Art from Ewha Womans University, where she first began to shape a visual language rooted in sensitivity to material, gesture, and inner reflection. Her artistic path later carried her to Florence, Italy, where she studied painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze . Immersed in the spiritual heritage of European art, she encountered Ars Magna as a living philosophy—an experience that profoundly expanded her contemplative approach to image-making.
After settling in the United States, she continued her artistic inquiry through the international art program at California State University, Long Beach. Since 1993, she has been an active member of the Korean Artists Association of Southern California, participating consistently in its annual exhibitions. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions across California, New York, and South Korea. Alongside her studio practice, she worked for three years as an illustrator for Moonhwa Ilbo , where daily drawing became a quiet discipline of observation and response.
She is the founder of Solas Art Center in Southern California. There, she teaches drawing, painting, illustration, and computer graphic design to children, youth, and adults. For her, teaching is not separate from art-making; it is an act of accompaniment—guiding others to discover their own visual voice through patience, practice, and self-awareness.
Her work continues to unfold at the intersection of memory, spirituality, and lived experience, inviting viewers into spaces of stillness, presence, and inward listening.
Microcosm to Macrocosm
Her work explores the intimate dialogue between natural forces and the intuitive self, unfolding through spontaneous, layered gestures across the canvas. Using acrylic, ink, and mixed media, she builds flowing compositions that resonate with nature’s rhythms—organic lines, elemental forms, and pigments that bleed, merge, and breathe like living ecosystems.
Each painting begins with an impulse: a gesture arising from within, guided by the subconscious and gently shaped by an underlying sense of structure. Through abstraction, she distills the essence of real forms, allowing them to dissolve into fluid, open figures. This process becomes a quiet spiritual passage—a meeting point between macrocosm and microcosm, where color, form, and energy encounter one another in tension and harmony.
Nature is not merely a subject but a collaborator. Grounded in a belief in universal laws that govern both the organic world and the act of creation, her paintings reflect cycles of layering, division, and movement. What appears as complexity reveals an underlying order—a hidden harmony within apparent chaos. For the artist, painting is a meditative practice: a way of translating emotional truth and spiritual resonance into visual memory. Through her work, she invites moments of still revelation—spaces of beauty, transformation, and connection between the inner and outer worlds.
Intrinsic Object Metamorphosis
In her creative process, the artist seeks to reveal the elemental forces that rise to the surface of the canvas—natural forms and lines that emerge through vision and intuitive, almost automatic touch. As pigment and water move across the surface—sometimes visibly, sometimes beyond perception—their traces remain as quiet evidence of transformation. These rhythms are not random; they follow an inner logic, like overlapping waves that contend, converge, and ultimately resolve into layered boundaries and forms.
Through painting, she encounters the way nature holds complexity and simplicity in perfect balance—an elegance that often escapes immediate recognition. Nature is both subject and origin in her work. Abstract gestures and evolving forms become a means to explore dualities of time and space: elements that separate in space yet unite in time, or converge spatially while diverging temporally. This dynamic tension forms the foundation of her visual language.
Meditation lies at the heart of her practice. She approaches painting as a meditative act—an effort to embody universal principles through gesture, presence, and breath. Her imagery is rooted in nature: landscapes, oceans, mountains, and skies. Often, she begins with traditional ink and brush on rice paper, capturing the vitality and movement of a subject in its most immediate, unfiltered state. These first impressions are later translated onto canvas through layered acrylic, where motion continues in the flow of pigments and the meeting of opposing colors.
A recurring metaphor in her work is the sailboat—an image of the human spirit drifting within the vast, unpredictable ocean of life. Before departure, the anchored vessel carries hope; once at sea, it enters a realm of trials—storms, suffering, and fleeting moments of calm—guided by something beyond itself, the open sky above. Within her abstract water imagery, the sailboat becomes a symbol of resilience, transformation, and spiritual passage.
Through her paintings, the artist seeks to evoke emotional depth and inner stillness. She invites viewers to look beyond surface appearances—to witness the metamorphosis of form, the tension between light and darkness, and the quiet persistence of hope. These works are not merely representations of nature, but reflections of the soul as it moves, listens, and endures within it.
history
Karin K. Namkung - Inspiring Fine Art
Education
1990 Ewha woman’s University Fine Art BFA
1993 Studied Accademia di Belle Arte de Firenze, Florence Italia
2010 Media Art Certificate at El Camino College
Solo Exhibition:
1993 Solo Show, Galleria D’Arte Torre, Firenze, Italia
1996 “Ein, Yang In the Spacetime” , Sam Jung Art Space, Seoul, Korea
2024 “Microcosm to Macrocosm” , Lee & Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Selected Exhibitions
2026 Raise Voices Gala , Gala Art Center, new York, NY
2025 Strangers / Painters Photography Exhibition, Do Arte Gallery, LA, CA
Q n A . Whamong, Ewha Univ. Hospital /Space B2 Gallery, Seoul Korea
15 Artists Invitation Charity Exhibition, Western Gallery, LA, CA
Tryst /Artemia International Art Fair, Torrance, Ca
Unity in Diversity, Korean Cultural Center, LA ,CA
Consilience in Painting, Whittier Art Gallery, Whittier,CA
Beyond The Visible, Shatto Gallery, LA , CA
LA Fire Relief. KAASC , E2 Gallery LA , CA
2024 Holiday Affordable, 11 Local Artists, Do Arte Gallery LA, CA
Tale of Passion, Nokmee , EK Art Gallery, LA ,CA
Nomad III , Del Amo Crossing, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, Ca
Luminate, KAASC, Korean Cultural Cente, LA , CA
2023 Compassion of Nature, KAASC. Korean Cultural Center, LA, CA
Harmony in Art, Nokmee, !st Gallery, Orange County, CA
Art With In Reach,Toy Bin Art , Black Market Gallery, Santa Monica ,CA
Chronicles, On The Road, MK Space Gallery, New York, NY
Seoul Modern Art Show, KEPKO Art Center Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2022 Trinity Cross Wall painting, Sahnsem E. Church, Torrance, CA
Nokmee 7th , Museo Art Museum and Cultural Center, Fullerton ,CA
Touch of Korean Soul, SFS Art Fair, Clarke Estate Gallery, Santa Fe , CA
Recovery of Being, KAASC. Korean Cultural Center, LA ,CA
The Phoenix Project, 15 BAILA+15Korean Artists, KCCLA, LA, Ca
2021 Online Global Nokmee Exhibition
Habitual, KAASC. Korean Cultural Center, LA, CA
2020 21 Artists invited Exhibition, Do Arte Gallery, La, CA
“Verdant in Diversity” Ewha Art Center, Seoul, Korea
2019 Three Women Artists Show, XO1 Gallery , Phelan, Ca
Crossing 17 artists Show , Western Gallery, Los Angeles , Ca
Santa Fe Spring Art Fair, Clarke Estate Gallery , Santa Fe Springs, Ca
KCSE Invited Korean Artists, C - Art Museum, Seoul ,Korea
2018 8 Women Artists Invited Exhibition, Gallery Clu, LA, Ca
2017 Blows Flags, Love Art Gallery , Philan, CA
Nokmee, Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Fullerton, CA
Itinerary , Coohaus Art Gallery, New York , NY
2016 Esperanza , 11 artists”, Gallery Ls, San Pedro, CA
2015 Light and Shadow, Painter's Photography , Gallery LS , San Pedro, CA
2014 The Big Show II, SCA Project Gallery, Pomona, CA
2013 South Bay Focus 2013, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
2012 33 Korean American Artists, Western Gallery , Los Angeles CA
2011 Off the Wall, Lee and Lee Gallery, Los Angeles CA
2010 Small & Precious Works, Gallery Ls, San Pedro, CA
Zest for Art, 50 Artists in LA, Rheeway Galleries , Los Angeles CA
2009 Works on Paper, Gallery Ls , San Pedro, CA
2008 Twenties, FT Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2007 Unity and Individuality, OPUS Gallery, Torrance, CA
Group Annual Exhibitions
1993-2025 Korean Artists Association in Southern California Annual Exhibition, KCCLA, CA
2010-2024 NokMee Exhibition , Lee And Lee Gallery , EK Gallery, Los Angeles, Muckenthaler Museum and Cultural Center, Orange County, Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center, Anaheim, Fullerton , CA.
2009 Art Auction Exhibition , Ewha Alumnae in America, BonaVenture Hotel, Los Angeles, CA.
2008/2023 Ewha Fine Art Exhibition, In-Sa Art Center,ewha Art Center, Seoul, Korea.
Association Current
Vice President of Korean Artists Association of Southern California.
President of Nokmee Artists Association of Southern California.
Member of Torrance Art Museum.