Ham Jin, 'No Name 08,' 2022, Polymer clay, aluminium wire, varnish, 6.7 x 4 x 3.5 cm. Photo by Aproject Company.Ham Jin’s (b. 1978) solo exhibition, Mom, is taking place at the Perigee Gallery from September 23 to November 12, 2022.
Today, with the development of technology and the advancement of tools, artworks are growing in size. Despite this, the artist Ham Jin continues to create micro-sized sculptures with his fingertips. Even a 30-centimeter-tall sculpture is a large work for Ham.
The majority of the artworks in the exhibition are smaller than 10 centimeters, and the gallery is equipped with a magnifying glass for the visitors to enjoy the works. Although small in size, each work is created with intricate details that hold the visitor’s attention for several minutes.
Ham’s former works used synthetic clay and non-artistic materials such as dust and dead insects to create miniature humans, animals, and unidentified creatures that satirize today’s world. His later works became more abstract by emphasizing the sculptural form with only black clay.
In Mom, each micro-sized, bizarre-looking creature, in which organic and inorganic substances are combined into a single piece, is sculpted from polymer clay of various hues. Each work stands on a pedestal, forming a separate world, as opposed to having a narrative that ties them together.
The works are connected to the artist’s reality, but they also resemble unrealistic mythical characters. The pieces are eerie and grotesque yet beautiful, abstract yet concrete, small in size yet with infinite imagination, and disorderly yet precise. Ham’s finger-made creations are a reflection of his world as well as questions about himself.
Exhibition view of Ham Jin’s solo exhibition, "Mom" at Perigee Gallery, Seoul. Photo by Aproject Company.Ham Jin’s rise to prominence in the Korean art world began in 1999 when he was selected for a call-for-artists program at Project Space Sarubia, one of the country’s earliest and most significant alternative spaces. He participated in the Busan Biennale in 2000, the Gwangju Biennale in 2001, as well as the Korean Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005.
He has held solo exhibitions at PKM Gallery in Seoul, Aomori Center for Contemporary Art in Japan, Hada Contemporary in London, Doosan Gallery in Seoul, and Chapter Two in Seoul. He participated in group exhibitions at the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris, Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Espace Louis Vuitton in Paris, Gallery Baton, Seoul National University Museum of Art, and Busan Museum of Art.
