Louis Le Kimâs paintings are deeply influenced by his explorations of abandoned and active industrial sitesâsteel mills, electric and nuclear power plants, mines, oil fieldsâas well as subterranean urban networks, frontlines, archaeological sites, and hostile natural environments such as deserts and volcanic regions. Le Kim transposes these architectural fragments, gathered over the course of his explorations, into monumental and fictional environments set within deserted landscapes. Louis Le Kimâs works provoke a strange kind of vertigoâan attraction to the sublime tinged with uneaseâreflecting both our thirst for spectacle and our growing fear of collapse.
Louis Le Kimâs work was exhibited at the MusĂ©e des Beaux-Arts de Valence in 2023. He received the Drawing Prize at DDessin Paris in 2020. In 2021, he was an artist-in-residence at Villa Ndar with the Institut Français in Saint-Louis, Senegal. His works are part of prestigious collections, including the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and the Pinault Collection.
