ΜΙΚΡΟμέγας
MICROmégas – 2nd part- SATURN
Exposition personnelle de Jin HAM
17.10 – 31.10.2026
The first solo exhibition of South Korean artist Jin Ham, in April 2026, MICROmegas left a mysterious impression and generated very good appreciation among many visitors.
Extension of the previous exhibition, MICROmegas – 2nd part – SATURN * gives a proper name to the microscopic anthropomorphic sculptures the artist brings to life, with his favourite material polymer clay and through his only tool, the tips of his fingers. The exhibited works show simultaneously the self buried in the artist’s unconscious and the relative identity of others. Jin Ham, with his gaze full of compassion and love towards the insignificant and weak living beings, encourages us to calmly come into contact with his beautiful, mysterious, tempting, humorous, sad, grotesque creations.
The artist thus invites you to the amusement park he has created!
Jin Ham (born in 1978, in South Korea) graduated in Fine Arts from Kyungwon University in South Korea. His artistic practice is based on microscopic sculptures, made with ordinary, even insignificant materials, expressing his inspiration at the same time. When he begins a work, he does not set himself any precise and conscious goal. The work builds itself, through various narratives, humour, grotesque, as well as cynical caricature of reality and ends in an unexpected fashion. The created universe can remind us the fantastic. The artist has exhibited in numerous personal and collective exhibitions, in South Korea and international places, such as the Seoul National University Museum of Art (2017), the Guangzhou Triennial (2012), the Espace Louis Vuitton, the Oude Warande Park in Tilburg (2008), the Musée de design et d’art appliqué contemporains de Lausanne (2006), the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain (2005) and the 51st Venice Biennale (2005) as an invited artist by the Korean Pavilion.
Extension of the previous exhibition, MICROmegas – 2nd part – SATURN * gives a proper name to the microscopic anthropomorphic sculptures the artist brings to life, with his favourite material polymer clay and through his only tool, the tips of his fingers. The exhibited works show simultaneously the self buried in the artist’s unconscious and the relative identity of others. Jin Ham, with his gaze full of compassion and love towards the insignificant and weak living beings, encourages us to calmly come into contact with his beautiful, mysterious, tempting, humorous, sad, grotesque creations.
The artist thus invites you to the amusement park he has created!
Jin Ham (born in 1978, in South Korea) graduated in Fine Arts from Kyungwon University in South Korea. His artistic practice is based on microscopic sculptures, made with ordinary, even insignificant materials, expressing his inspiration at the same time. When he begins a work, he does not set himself any precise and conscious goal. The work builds itself, through various narratives, humour, grotesque, as well as cynical caricature of reality and ends in an unexpected fashion. The created universe can remind us the fantastic. The artist has exhibited in numerous personal and collective exhibitions, in South Korea and international places, such as the Seoul National University Museum of Art (2017), the Guangzhou Triennial (2012), the Espace Louis Vuitton, the Oude Warande Park in Tilburg (2008), the Musée de design et d’art appliqué contemporains de Lausanne (2006), the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain (2005) and the 51st Venice Biennale (2005) as an invited artist by the Korean Pavilion.
* Micromégas is a famous philosophical tale published in 1752 by the French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, and the first science fiction novel. Oxymoron bringing together Micro, which means “ small ” and Megas, which means “ great ” in Ancient Greek ; the title itself deals with the subject of relativity and diversity. Living on the planet Sirius, Micromegas, a wise and giant alien, made a journey and landed on planet Saturn where he met a smaller archivist from the Academy of Saturn. The two giants arrive on planet Earth, and find that the Earth is too small and that it takes a microscope to observe the human beings, invisible to the eye, who unnecessarily splinter in philosophical disputes, religious and wars. They criticize their human-centred conception, and humorously parody their absurdity and vanity from a cosmic point of view. Before leaving, Micromegas gave the human beings “ a philosophical book that contains the nature of all things ”, and when the book was opened, the pages were empty of any inscription.
Les vernissages cette semaine dans les galeries parisiennes : du 14 au 19 octobre 2026, article in the Journal des Arts, October 14th 2026
