Artist Kim Do-young's invitational exhibition A Dreaming Star Becomes a Flower brings together work spanning many years alongside her most recent pieces. Following the works one by one reveals more than a shift in style — it traces the time in which the artist has expressed herself and connected with the world through painting.
Kim Do-young's father recalls the time before his daughter began painting this way:
"Back then, it wasn't easy to connect with Do-young emotionally, and there were many moments I didn't know how to reach her. But around age thirteen, when she started drawing, she started 'speaking.' She began expressing herself through the medium of art. As her experiences accumulated, that expression gradually turned into communication with the world."
For Kim Do-young, painting was, before anything else, a language for revealing herself to the world. She began expressing herself through art, and as her body of work grew and she met more people, her world gradually expanded. But having talent is one thing; building a role for that talent within society is another. It requires a space to keep creating, opportunities to show the work, and relationships that can turn into an actual career.
A first meeting at a church exhibition
AROMATICA Founder Jerry first encountered Kim Do-young's work three years ago, at a special exhibition held for Disability Awareness Sunday at church. The paintings on display radiated bright color and vitality, and the characters that appeared throughout her work left a strong impression. Jerry also learned that Kim Do-young had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at around age two, and that her practice spanned everything from small pieces to large-scale works over two meters tall.
For some time, Jerry had heard about "Good Love Ministry," a church community supporting people with developmental disabilities and their families, and had held a personal wish to one day volunteer as a Sunday school teacher. That intention connected naturally with a question AROMATICA had been carrying as a company. AROMATICA was founded in 2004 to raise awareness of the impact synthetic fragrances and harmful ingredients have on people and the environment, and to offer better alternatives. As the company grew, that mission extended beyond products and the environment into questioning issues our society has long taken for granted — and employment of people with disabilities was one of them. Rather than simply offering a narrow set of standardized roles, AROMATICA began asking how a person's own talents and strengths could be connected to real, meaningful work. AROMATICA didn't have a clear answer to that question either. Meeting Kim Do-young became the moment that turned this long-held idea into an actual hire and collaboration.
Employment of people with disabilities at companies is often treated purely as a matter of legal quotas or compliance fees. Paying a fee can be the more convenient choice for a company compared to directly hiring, designing a role, and supporting someone's adjustment to the workplace. Even when hiring does happen, it's often concentrated in a narrow set of easier-to-manage roles, such as running an internal cafeteria or handling support tasks.
Standing in front of Do-young's paintings, Jerry imagined a different possibility: "What if we hired Kim Do-young as a designer and brought this artwork into our products?" The idea was to connect a talent she already had with real work at the company. If the design the company needed could meet the artist's own creative practice, it could become more than a simple hire — a relationship that raised the value of both sides.
Before "employment," the question was "how do we work together"
Turning that idea into an actual hire wasn't simple. Hiring a general employee and welcoming an artist as a member of the organization are different challenges. Kim Do-young needed a space and a way of working she could feel comfortable in, and the company had to consider whether commuting to an office on a fixed daily schedule was even the right fit for her.
This is part of why, in Korea, corporate support for artists with disabilities often stops at a one-time purchase of artwork, or indirect employment arranged through an external cooperative. Directly hiring an artist requires understanding the nature of creative work while also designing a role that can genuinely continue within the organization.
AROMATICA didn't start with a finished answer either. It took time to adjust the work format and environment so Do-young could work steadily in a space familiar to her, and time for the company and the artist to adjust to one another. Through that process, Kim Do-young joined AROMATICA's Visual Design team in January 2025. What mattered most to AROMATICA wasn't simply counting Do-young among its disability-employment headcount — it was making sure she could continue her work within the organization both as "employee Kim Do-young" and as "artist Kim Do-young."
Why the artist's name appears alongside the artwork
Kim Do-young's artwork has reached consumers through gift set packaging for Family Month and the Christmas season. Corporate art collaborations are already a widely used approach. Partnering with a well-known artist makes it easier to draw consumer attention and adds collectible value to a product. Sustaining a collaboration with an artist who isn't yet widely known, on the other hand, requires a brand to deliberately create opportunities and give the partnership priority.
AROMATICA didn't stop at simply using the artwork on packaging — it wanted to introduce the relationship between artist and brand under the name "Kim Do-young × AROMATICA." Do-young's father described what this approach meant:
"They could have just hired her, but going forward together under the name 'Kim Do-young × AROMATICA' means a great deal from an artist's perspective. Her name gets known alongside her work, and both sides can grow together. I think package art is a broad art form that reaches an unspecified, wide audience. So many people get to naturally encounter Do-young's imagery and name."
The number of people who visit a gallery to see an exhibition is limited, but a product travels into someone's everyday life. On a store shelf, in the moment a gift is handed over, people encounter Kim Do-young's paintings. That's not simply using artwork as product decoration — it's one way an artist's name and creative world connect with a wider society.
What it means to hire one person
Looking at the body of work Kim Do-young has built over so many years at this exhibition prompts a renewed reflection on what employment can mean for a person. A job is a means of earning income, but it isn't only that. It's also a process of discovering what you're good at, connecting with others through that work, and building a place for yourself in society under your own name.
Do-young's father shared that families raising children with autism around them find hope in watching her journey:
"Parents raising children with autism around us start to hope that their own child might be able to take a similar path. We're walking a path nobody's walked before, one step at a time. I hope this story spreads further and reaches more people."
Hiring one person can't solve every problem, and AROMATICA's approach isn't presented as the definitive answer. The company, the artist, family, and colleagues are still finding what works for everyone, one step at a time. But when a company stops viewing disability employment purely as a matter of fees or headcount, and instead starts asking how a person's value can be connected to meaningful work, the range of possible roles — and possible lives — can gradually widen. What's needed from a company is more than creating a special seat for someone. It's discovering the talent someone already has, connecting it to a role the organization genuinely needs, and helping that value reach more people.
Kim Do-young began telling her story through painting. Now that story reaches beyond the gallery, into the company's products and into people's everyday lives. This exhibition is both a record of the time she has walked so far, and a space to imagine, together, the path she'll walk next. AROMATICA intends to keep walking that path alongside her, as a colleague, so that Kim Do-young's name and work can continue to reach a wider world.
Kim Do-young Invitational Exhibition — A Dreaming Star Becomes a Flower
2026.7.15 – 8.28 | Heunmulgyeol Gallery (150 Banpo-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul)
An invitational exhibition bringing together the body of work Kim Do-young has built over many years is now on view at Heunmulgyeol Gallery. Experience in person the bright color, vitality, and the story of an artist who has communicated with the world through painting — more than words alone can capture.