Kim Hyung-Dae Retrospective is an exhibition
of the Korean Contemporary Artist Series at National Museum of Modern and
Contemporary Art, Korea. The exhibition explores Kim Hyung-Dae's unique
oeuvre in the last five decades, and his formative language which crosses over
the boundaries of painting and print.
Kim won the award from the
chairman of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction at the National Art
Exhibition in Korea in 1961 for his work of Informel style work Restoration
B. Kim was the first artist in Korean art history to receive acclamation
for abstract art in National Art Exhibitions. Presenting approximately 110 of
Kim's work, this exhibition sheds light on half a century of Kim's art career in a chronological order seen through 3 sections: 'Passion and Challenge' which demonstrates
the artist's powerful creative energy through abstract
art in the artist's youth, 'Exploration
and Maturation’ when the artist, influenced by classic
architectural elements of Korea such as Soeseo and Dancheong, explored and
reinvented Korean traditional aesthetics through his own artistic language, and
'Halo and a New Beginning'
which focuses on Kim's works from 1980s until the
present.
Of particular importance, Kim
Hyung-Dae Retrospective shows over 40 abstract paintings by Kim, including Growth,
inspired by the tributary in Yeouido where Kim spent his childhood, as well as
Restoration B which won an award at the National Art Exhibition 1961, and
Work B.
The exhibition also displays
over 70 woodcut prints which integrate the artist's experimental exploration
into the medium and his fascination with Korean aesthetics. Other works in the
exhibition include Halo series which shows the artist's mature aesthetics combining abstract art with Korean motif.
This exhibition sheds light
on the significance in the passion and original fulfillment of an artist whose
work traverses freely across the borders of painting and print in search for
indigenous aesthetics in contemporary art, and hopes to provide an opportunity
to look at Korean contemporary art in a more multilayered perspective.
Section 1
Passion and Challenge
In 1960, when Kim was a 3rd
year student in Painting at Seoul National University, he broke away from the
academic style of painting which focused on portrait and landscape paintings
and passionately delved into abstract painting. A founding member of Wall Art
Exhibition which resisted against the existing art world at the time, Kim hung
his work on the wall of Deoksugung Palace in Jeong-dong, Seoul. In the same
year, he won the 10th National Exhibition in 1961, and won the award from the chairman
of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction at the National Art
Exhibition in Korea for his painting Restoration B and became the first
artist in Korea to be recognized for abstract painting in National Art
Exhibition. Work B was specially selected without screening at the 11th
National Art Exhibition the following year. Kim's practice in 1960s laid the
foundation of abstract painting in Korean contemporary art.
Section 2
Exploration and Maturation
In 1970s, Kim started to
focus on subjects indigenous to Korea, such as traditional woodcut, in order to
overcome the limits of Western-oriented abstract art. He was captivated by
traditional woodcut like Korean traditional architectural elements like
Dancheong and Soiseo wooden sculpture, and expressed them into various forms
through his woodcuts. With geometric and symmetrical structures running over
the natural grain of wood and colors inspired by Korean traditional colors of
Dancheong, Kim's woodcuts demonstrate the artist's desires
to express the beauty of Korea in a contemporary context. The color hues
emanating from underneath the layers of printed colors exemplify Kim's unique and brilliant method he achieved through a long period of
experimentation.
Section 3
Halo and the New Beginning
Began in 1980s and
continuing until today, Halo is a series which goes back and forth
painting and print and represents Kim's art world. After mid-1980s in his Halo series, Kim started
to expand the horizontal and vertical partitioning in his work throughout the
entire surface of his abstract paintings, at the same time focusing on thick
matière and layers of colors on the surface. Inspired by Korean traditional
fabric and waves, Kim's style continues on in the Halo
series with longitude and latitude lines offering visual and tactile depth, and
transforming into a space of transparent monotone light.
