Esther Kim Varet

Esther Jin Kim Varet is an American art dealer and gallerist, best known as the founder and director of the contemporary art gallery Various Small Fires (VSF) in Los Angeles. She established VSF in 2012 as a project space in her home and has grown it into a gallery with locations in Los Angeles and Orange County. Kim Varet has been noted as a prominent figure in the L.A. art scene, credited with launching the careers of several artists and drawing institutional attention to her gallery's program.

Early life and education Kim Varet grew up in Dallas, Texas. During her childhood, she spent summers in Seoul, South Korea. She then pursued graduate studies in the history department of art and archaeology at Columbia University, where she wrote her master's thesis on performance artist Andrea Fraser's institutional critique. In April 2025, she launched a new outpost in Orange County, California (VSF OC), with an inaugural exhibition in Tustin.

Political candidacy In early 2025, Kim Varet publicly entered politics by declaring her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives. She announced she would run as a Democrat in California's 40th Congressional District, aiming to unseat incumbent Republican Congresswoman Young Kim in the 2026 election. Kim Varet has framed her run as an extension of her community engagement, drawing on her art-world fundraising experience to build a political campaign network. . Kim Varet finished first amongst Democratic challengers, but she was ultimately eliminated in California’s Top 2 jungle primary allowing the two Republican incumbents Young Kim and Ken Calvert to advance to the general.

Personal life Kim Varet married Joseph Rosenwald Varet, a co-founder of LXTV and former MTV executive, in 2011, after the two met through their support of Performa. They have a son, Julius, and a daughter, Zelda.