Healing | Mihee Nahm : in the Main Gallery

Healing by Mihee Nahm showcases everyday flora Nahm encounters on daily walks. What Nahm refers to as “marginalized greeneries,” compositions of trees, vines, and domesticated plants fill extremely dense oil paintings. What began as a photographic encounter, quickly turned to a digitally archived collection of interesting subject matter. Formal elements such as color, texture, light, shape, and form are selected and often digitally altered to communicate Nahm’s visual attraction while evoking a sense of longing. Starting with acrylic on a small scale, these images are drawn, and then a few are selected for life-sized renderings in oil. This labor-intensive way of creation emphasizes 

Nahm’s primary goal of mimesis. Although each individual painting goes through various approaches of fabrication, the consistency of added layers is evident throughout the entire series.

Nahm says, “Layering allows a second chance; rather than expecting it to be perfect the first time, I approach the subject matter slowly and organically in order to get the right value and color. Some days, painting takes on a meditative quality. Other days, it is chaotic. Other days still, it simply feels vague. On rare occasions, painting seems magical, transforming my initial attraction into a physical object.”

About Mihee Nahm

Mihee Nahm was born and raised in South Korea until the age of sixteen when she moved to the United States. In America, she took her first painting class which compelled her to pursue art. Living as a foreigner in America for over a decade pushed her to explore themes of memory, sense of place and nostalgia. Mihee Nahm holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, and a BFA from Art Academy of Cincinnati. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions nationally. She also has attended residencies at the Vermont