Kim Lim

Kim Lim is best known for her abstract sculptures in wood and stone, which explore the interplay between art and nature, as well as for her works on paper that evolved in tandem with her sculptural practice.

Biography of Kim Lim

Kim Lim was born in 1936 in Singapore and spent much of her early childhood in Penang and Malacca. At 18, after completing her schooling in Singapore, she moved to London.

She began her formal art education at Central Saint Martin's School of Art, where she focused on wood carving. In 1956, she transferred to the Slade School of Fine Art, specializing in printmaking. Lim exhibited widely on international platforms, including biennales, where her work was celebrated for its meticulous attention to curve, line, and surface finish.

Lim worked independently throughout her career without studio assistance. She and her husband, the acclaimed British sculptor and painter William Turnbull, traveled extensively to countries such as China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Egypt, Malaysia, and Turkey. These travels profoundly influenced her work, inspiring many of her sketches.

Her solo exhibitions included prestigious venues like the Tate, the National Museum of Art in Singapore, Modern Art Oxford, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield, and Camden Arts Centre. Her work has also been featured in numerous group exhibitions worldwide and is part of public collections at institutions such as the National Museum of Art in Singapore, Museum of Modern Art in Nagaoka, Japan, Fukuyama City Museum in Hiroshima, Japan, Middelheim Open Air Museum in Antwerp, Tate, Arts Council Collection, Contemporary Art Society, Government Art Collection, and The Hepworth Wakefield. 

Kim Lim's Art Style

Lim's meticulous focus on the subtleties of curves, lines, and surfaces positioned her as a key figure in minimalism. During the 1960s and 1970s, her sculptures primarily featured wood, shaped into forms inspired by fundamental rhythmic patterns and structures, with each element contributing to a harmonious whole. Following her twenty-year retrospective in the late '70s, Lim began transitioning to working with stone and marble, incorporating these materials into her work alongside her wooden sculptures. 

From the 1980s onwards, Lim’s work began to reflect more natural forms, inspired by her interest in ancient Greek, Chinese, and South Asian civilizations.

The artist primarily worked with stone while continuing to create prints. Her sculptures are renowned for their striking qualities of lightness and softness, even when crafted from rugged, raw materials.