Sarah Shinhyo Kim is a Korean-American artist currently living and working in the Unit-ed States. She studied Fine Arts at Cornell University and earned her BFA in Fashion Design from Parsons School of Design. After many years in the fashion industry, in 2014 Kim made the leap to becoming a full-time artist and has had 3 solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions in New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles. Her most recent group exhibition “Summer Solstice” was held at the Agora Gallery in Chelsea, NY in 2021.
As a way to explore human communication and relationships, Kim’s work focuses on the increasing popularisation of ‘emoticon’ pop-imagery in the past decade. While these images, known colloquially as ‘emojis,’ are vehicles of individual emotional expression, their universal and semantically rich nature allows us to transcend cultural and linguistic barriers. In her work she aims for the harmonious consolidation of various emotions and expressions. She begins by drawing clusters of emoticons portraying different states of mind. She then overlaps and connects them to form a unified larger image. Her message is simple; despite everyone’s uniqueness and differences, balance and harmony can be achieved in human relationships.

“As an artist who values human communication and relationships, the inspiration for my recent work comes from the increasing popularisation of ‘emoticons,’ or ‘emojis,’ in the past decade. In my practice, I explore different facets of this social phenomenon. On the one hand, emojis act as vehicles of individual emotional expression, revealing a simplified, yet honest feeling about our everyday lives. On the other hand, their universal and semantically rich nature allows us to transcend cultural and linguistic barriers, while at the same time reflect and comment on complex social issues. In my work, I aim for the harmonious consolidation of various emotions and expressions. I draw clusters of little faces portraying different states of mind, which are eventually shaped into a unified larger image. My artwork shows that despite everyone’s uniqueness and differences, balance and harmony can be achieved in human relationships. “