Nosik Lim (b. 1989) creates paintings that translate moments perceived, felt, and captured through the body onto the canvas. The artist states that his geographical background has had the greatest influence on his practice. His paintings begin with a process of retracing everyday spaces tied to personal memories, including places from his childhood.

The works presented in Nosik Lim’s first solo exhibition, 《View from the Inside》 (OCI Museum of Art, 2016), were set against the backdrop of ranches and livestock barns—spaces where the artist spent his childhood. His practice begins with revisiting places imbued with personal experience, observing them from a present-day perspective, and layering past memories over them to visually reimagine the meaning of the space itself.
 
Through this process, his paintings capture landscapes of remembered personal experiences. Rather than merely reproducing natural scenery, Lim's works reveal psychological landscapes and trace-like sensations embedded in memory. These unfold as strata of time layered across the surface of the canvas.

For instance, the ‘View from the Inside’ (2016) series may appear to depict an ordinary ranch, but it reveals a deeply personal moment in which the artist came to see the ranch as a microcosm of society—a turning point he confesses through the work.
 
A few years ago, Lim witnessed a young cow that had not yet adapted to the ranch environment manage to escape beyond the electrified fence—installed to keep the livestock from getting out. However, faced with the harsh, unfamiliar world of a freezing winter, the cow ultimately returned to the ranch on its own.

From this experience, Lim came to realize that the lives of cows, adapting to a predetermined structure within the roles and functions of the ranch, are not so different from those of humans—who may dream of breaking away from a society controlled by external forces, but ultimately cannot escape it.
 
In this context, curator Hwang Jung-in describes the series as “not merely a depiction of a physical landscape divided by fences, but a portrayal of an internal psychological struggle—where immediate reality and opposing ideals continuously clash and overturn one another—and a reflection on the world as seen through that conflict.”

In his second solo exhibition, 《Folded Time》 (Hapjungjigu, 2017), Nosik Lim shifted focus from the memory-laden landscapes of his hometown ranch in Yeoju to the surrounding scenery of Mullae-dong, where he was living at the time. The artist spent his days walking between home and studio during the late-night hours, repeatedly observing the seemingly meaningless and monotonous urban landscape, or fixating on the same image over and over.
 
The artist, through the repeated process of situating himself within a specific time and space, began to physically perceive the invisible differences that infiltrate the gaps in perception—subtle variations that emerge within a temporality and spatiality conditioned by repetition.
 
By positioning himself as a "spatiotemporal being," he gave form to these bodily sensations and the barely perceptible shifts in perception that surfaced through them, translating them onto the surface of the canvas.

For example, Sky Tower (2017) is a work composed of leftover scraps of canvas, cut into uniform pieces. Lim painted the afterimages of the night sky he saw each day, one by one, layering them on top of one another. This multi-layered structure—consisting of over a hundred small paintings stacked on the same spot—condenses the “folded time” accumulated from repeatedly encountering the same ground, at the same time, under the same sky.

Art critic Soyeon Ahn observes that “through an experiential and reflective engagement with time and space, Lim attempts to construct a landscape that resists the everyday—a landscape different from that of just yesterday.” She further notes, “These nightscapes, imbued with a sense of confusion like folded time, present a reality in which time and space are no longer perceived as they are, but as something altogether other.”

In his third solo exhibition, 《Pebble Skipping》 (Artspace Boan2, 2020), Nosik Lim presented a series of paintings that reexamined the operative logic of painting itself. The works began with a reflection on the idiomatic Korean expression “눈에 담다 (to contain in the eyes),” reconsidered through the language of painting.
 
From the phrase “to contain,” Lim recalled the act of scooping up sand—how, when one tries to gather sand with their hands, not every grain comes up; some inevitably fall away. Similarly, in the process of transferring outdoor scenes into the studio, parts of what the artist sees are always lost in transition.

Lim came to believe that the grains of sand weren’t truly lost—they had simply drifted out of reach, becoming imperceptible. He began to explore the idea that while parts of the landscape may slip through the weave of the canvas and seem to disappear, their remnants might, in fact, linger as traces embedded in the surface.
 
The exhibition’s title, “Pebble Skipping,” refers to the act of throwing flat stones across the surface of water to see how many times they bounce. Just as one watches the rippling traces left behind by the stone’s movement, Lim’s exhibition leaves behind resonant afterimages—echoes of a trajectory that spans landscape, studio, and gallery space.

Building on his exploration of how the flow between these three spaces—landscape, studio, and gallery—is captured on canvas, Lim also considered how this could be presented within the exhibition space. While maintaining the traditional rectangular frame of painting, he questioned how this shape interacts with the surrounding space and how the painting itself could become part of the spatial experience within the gallery. This led him to conceive an installation that departs from conventional methods of displaying paintings.
 
As a result, his works take on curved forms or manifest as wall- and pillar-like structures. In doing so, architectural elements typically considered part of the white cube—such as windows, ceiling beams, and even the gallery entrance—function as integral frames within the exhibition.

In his 2023 solo exhibition 《Unfolded》 at Project Space Sarubia, Nosik Lim revisited questions about the essence and approach to painting, reflecting on the time he has spent contemplating his medium, as well as the materials, places, and events he has collected. Through this process, he sought to unravel what these elements truly mean to him and unfolded a “long story.”
 
Over six months, the artist laid out 25 blank canvases and engaged in a repetitive process of painting and erasing across their entire surfaces, gradually building up layers step by step. As thin traces of paint accumulated, Lim witnessed his personal narratives and emotions being sealed within the work. Moreover, by constructing intangible elements into fragmented visual representations, each motif on the canvases came to form another narrative that transcends time and space.

Nosik Lim intended for the 25 uniformly sized works to be arranged across the space as a single cohesive installation. He aimed to create an open environment where each viewer’s imagination and perception could generate unique and diverse narratives. To facilitate this, the artist deliberately left spaces of pause and blankness within the works to accommodate the thoughts and attitudes of the audience.
 
Within his paintings, the boundaries of collected, ambiguous memories—interwoven with stories from various times and places—are subtly blurred and diffused. These indistinct and elusive images imply faint connections that link them together, forming a unified whole.

The works were installed along the four rectangular walls of the gallery at equal intervals, arranged in the same order in which they were brought into the space—mirroring the studio practice where their creation was carried out non-sequentially. This installation strategy aimed to minimize subjective interventions such as narrative flow, the artist’s intention, pictorial concepts, formal effects, and the viewer’s gaze, allowing the randomly ordered works to form a natural, organic rhythm.

His recent approach, which softly blurs visible forms, visualizes the spatiotemporal distance between the subject and himself. This method can be understood as a metaphor for ambiguous sensory presence layered with countless overlapping times and emotions.
 
Furthermore, the indistinct shapes and hazy surfaces stem from the artist’s background in traditional East Asian painting. He transfers the natural bleeding and absorption of ink on paper—where pigments spread and hold water for a certain time—into conventional Western painting media. This creates an illusion as if the colors seep into the canvas and emit their own light. Such effects evoke a visual experience perceived within the invisible gaps of time and space, producing images imbued with a faint, mysterious sensibility.

In his 2025 solo exhibition 《SeonSan: My Family’s Ancestral Mountain》 at Space Willing N Dealing, Nosik Lim revealed his perspective on personal experience, cultural background, and tribal practices surrounding farming and funerary rites, set against the ancestral mountain where his family graves are located. The narrative, reconstructed through the artist’s characteristic dreamlike imagery, reflects the phenomenon in which long-standing traditions, the existing environment, and their ongoing practices emerge as symbolic systems of recognition within contemporary society.
 
Within Lim’s canvases, scenes such as his father, brother, and workers tending to rice fields; wildflowers harmonizing along mountain streams; trees that have endured for long years; skies embracing clouds that provide shade; and the meticulous care of graves evoke a lyrical impression of landscape painting. However, his work transcends mere landscape depiction, serving instead as a layered visual record interweaving his experiences of rural life, funeral customs, geography, legends, and family memories, transformed into a new visual language.

Starting from the landscape viewed from the ancestral mountain, the artist combined sketches and photographs he made on site to compose a unique perspective that eliminates the distinction between foreground and background. He then painted the scene in oil paint and deliberately blurred it with oil pastels, simultaneously erasing the depicted subject and his own presence as the viewer.
 
Through this process, Nosik Lim aimed to express a delicate and subtle landscape in which only the space surrounding himself remains. In his paintings, once-clear images become blurred, fading the memory of what they once were, and ultimately remain as signs—symbols that are just barely recognizable.

Nosik Lim’s hazy paintings, layered like memories rewritten many times, become multidimensional spaces where countless moments and emotions overlap. The subjects closely connected to his personal experiences appear within these spaces as tangled, overlapping, and ambiguous traces. 

Furthermore, by capturing images of memories blurred over time, Lim conveys the stories of small presences dwelling within them. Through this, he seeks to uncover hidden narratives embedded in the world we live in.

 “Where am I? Where do I belong? What defines a place as ‘mine’? The place where one is born and where one currently lives are fundamental and essential elements when explaining oneself to others. My geographical history certainly influences the external meaning of my work. The spaces and surroundings that constitute this geographical history intersect with time, becoming deeper, more metaphorical, and symbolic.”     (Nosik Lim, Artist’s Note)

Nosik Lim received his BFA in Oriental Painting at Hongik University, and MFA in Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts at Korea National University of Arts. His solo exhibitions include 《Seonsan: My Familys Ancestral Mountain》 (Space Willing N Dealing, Seoul, 2025), 《Where Shadow Linger》 (Space Æfter, Seoul, 2024), 《Deep Line》 (Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul, 2023), 《Unfolded》 (Project Space Sarubia, Seoul, 2023), 《Pebble Skipping》 (Artspace Boan 2, Seoul, 2020), and 《Folded Time》 (Hapjungjigu, Seoul, 2017).
 
Lim has also participated in numerous group exhibitions held at Arario Gallery Shanghai (Shangai, China, 2025), Arario Gallery Seoul (Seoul, 2024), SONGEUN (Seoul, 2023), Ilmin Museum of Art (Seoul, 2023), Art Center White Block (Paju, Korea, 2022), SFAC Seoul Art Space Geumcheon (Seoul, 2021), Amado Art Space (Seoul, 2020), and more. He gained attention for being selected in the Kumho Museum of Art and Kumho Young Artist 2022.
He was the artist-in-residence at the SeMA Nanji Residency in 2019, Incheon Art Platform in 2020, and the SFAC Seoul Art Space Geumcheon in 2021. His works are collected by institutions such as the Seoul Museum of Art, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s Art Bank, Ilmin Museum of Art, ARARIO MUSEUM and more.

References

• 임노식, Nosik Lim (Artist Website)
• 아라리오갤러리, 임노식 (Arario Gallery, Nosik Lim)
• 인천문화통신 3.0, 임노식 (IFAC News 3.0, Nosik Lim)
• OCI 미술관, [서문] 안에서 본 풍경 (OCI Museum of Art, [Preface] View from the Inside)
• 합정지구, [서문] 접힌 시간 (Hapjungjigu, [Preface] Folded Time)
• 프로젝트 스페이스 사루비아, [서문] 긴 이야기 (Project Space Sarubia, [Preface] Unfolded)
• 아트스페이스 보안, [서문] 물수제비 (Artspace Boan, [Preface] Pebble Skipping)
• 스페이스 윌링앤딜링, [서문] 선산 (Space Willing N Dealing, [Preface] SeonSan: My Family’s Ancestral Mountain)