ART-PRESENTATION: Tschang-Yeul Kim
The language Kim Tschang-Yeul uses in his “Waterdrop” paintings combines the discourse of photorealism and Abstract Expressionism, placing the paintings in an ambiguous space between abstraction and reality. For Kim, water is the origin of all things, highlighting that nothing in our universe would exist without water. Through exploring water as an independent subject, Kim has brought the origin theory of Thales, the father of Western philosophy, to mind.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Almine Rech Gallery Archive
The paintings in Tschang-Yeul Kim’s solo exhibition at Almine Rech Gallery in New York range from an early 1968 Abstraction, made while the artist participated in Korea’s Art Informel movement, to his more recent “Recurrence” series in which sparkling drops emerge against a background of Chinese characters. Many of his works from the early 1970s feature water drops individually. In these pieces, Kim does not employ water as a subject itself but shows water drops seeping out of a wall or sitting alone. An artificial impression is given and he begins to visualise the quality of existence. By 1972, his paintings show a conceptual shift and water is no longer alone on his canvas. The water drops radically increase in size and quantity and bring forth a surreal impression. He also refines the composition through the removal of colour in his painting process. Each work is a visceral experience bringing viewers into a state of contemplation, mesmerized by the artist’s superlative facility with oil paint and other mediums. In “événement de la nuit” (1972), a nightscape of moonlight and shadow is captured in the single magnified drop of water that is the focus of the canvas. In “Waterdrops” from 1979, the canvas appears to be weeping a curtain of jeweled tears, so realistic that we expect them to instantly dry before our eyes. The artist himself has spoken of these works as acts of healing, attempts to reach a state of serenity conquering the enormous inner conflicts left by his experiences with war and repression from his early days in Korea. The transition into the 1980s shows Kim beginning to explore textures in his water drops. He uses oil paint, applied to the back of a wet canvas. “Recurrence”, the series he developed in this period, shows frames full of calligraphic texts from Thousand Character Classic or deconstructed strokes of Chinese letters, all used to construct the water drops. Kim continues to work on this series to this day. He has taken the works a step further by placing Xuan sheet paper and rice paper on the canvas first before writing on the paper with ink and composing water drops, which reflects Kim’s childhood experiences of practicing reading and writing and also the art tradition he inhabits. In the 1990s, the artist started to experiment with the use of new techniques and media, such as painting water drops on wooden boards and a range of other materials. Kim also began to create sculptures with rock, iron, and bronze, and he used glass for water drops in his installations. Kim believes that water and water drops exist anywhere around us, including in space and time, but are also vulnerable and exposed to an infinite emptiness. Over the decades we see the water drops become a path through which Kim searches for an infinite revelation.
Info: Almine Rech Gallery, 39 East 78th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, Duration: 6/3-14/4/18, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.alminerech.com
