Myriad myths and symbols are wrapped up in our captivation with cats. In ancient Egypt, the animals were revered as divine protectors, personified by the deity Bastet. In Japan, it’s hard to walk by shops without seeing a maneki-neko waving from the window. And superstition says that if a black cat crosses your path, it may be bad luck. Although depending who you ask, it could mean good luck… did you happen to notice which direction it was walking?
For artist Minyoung Kim, who centers black felines in her eccentric compositions, the fascination comes down to “the contrast between how ordinary and how weird they are,” she tells Colossal. Kim taps into the paradoxes, such as how the animals can be seemingly everywhere in our daily lives, yet they often remain aloof and unreadable.
That tinge of mischief is something she pulls through each work. “I want the painting to look visually inviting or polished at first glance, but as you stand there, you start noticing things that don’t quite add up—a reflection that’s wrong, an odd shape, an absurd gesture. That tiny moment of ‘Wait, what?’ is where the magic happens for me.”
The black creatures in particular stoke Kim’s imagination because they carry the most “heavy cultural baggage,” she says. “Over time, the black cat in my work became less of a subject and more of a tool: sometimes a good luck charm, sometimes just a way to inject a bit of humour or subtle weirdness into a scene.” Rarely a passive element of the compositions, the feisty pets often appear to be plotting something devious involving cutlery or simply creating chaos.
Nuanced, slightly strange elements are characteristic of the artist’s work, in which she toys with scale and absurd compositions. Sometimes the cats are more or less realistic, while other times their faces appear on tiny, fuzzy balls or critters, such as in “Cocktail Party” or “Chopped Melon.” Kim says, “Humour is huge for me. Even though my paintings are pretty tightly constructed and technically meticulous, I really don’t want them to feel stiff or overly academic. I want them to have a sense of play.”
Often, only a paw or a tail is visible, rendered mid-swipe as claws extend to grip a tablecloth or reach out to grab a knife. “Just dropping a random paw, a single eye, or a curved tail into an otherwise mundane setup completely shifts the mood,” Kim says. “It interrupts the room…Ultimately, it’s about making the familiar feel just a little off.”
Over time, Kim has thoughtfully transitioned how felines appear in her pieces. In her most recent paintings, such as “The Shining Net,” the pattern of a moth’s wings allude to the yellow eyes, but the artist instead emphasizes other symbolic and compositional forms, such as water droplets and an intricate web. Lately, she has been interested in European still-life painting, “specifically how it handles light, liquids, reflections, and moments of visual illusion,” she says.
Kim is currently preparing for a solo booth at Untitled Art, Miami Beach, where she’ll exhibit with Enari Gallery. Follow updates and see more on Instagram.
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