Namdoo Kim

My research focuses on issues of consumerism and the sociological impact of object desire. I am particularly interested in how contemporary consumer values create social expectations and subsequent pressures, especially on young children in my home country of South Korea. Growing up there, I experienced the accelerated Western consumerism of our developing economy, and the pressures that parents and children suffered as they tried to conform to the expectations of success, achievement, and the acquisition and symbolic display of wealth. My work challenges, through humour and satire, the pervasive and too easily accepted concepts of success and wealth. My art reinterprets the original meaning and purpose of obvious pop objects in our consumer society, visualizing them in terms of their underlying societal messaging, implications, and philosophies. The symbolism and references move beyond icons of pop culture, to examine and incorporate existing philosophies, interpreting them sculpturally in our contemporary context.
< Shop More Artists < Main Shop


The Filters you have chosen do not return any results. Please modify your filter selection.

Did you Know?

50% of your purchase directly supports the artist, and 50% of your purchase supports the operations of The Clay Studio, a nonprofit that serves 35,000 people, including 2,000 underserved school children, each year.

Learn More about supporting us

Can We Help?

Feel free to contact us Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Naimah Stith, Retail Manager and Gallery Coordinator
naimah@theclaystudio.org | 215-925-3453 x115


Customer service