Prospect for Korean Arts Seen from the Eyes of Contemporary Artists : Scars and Adimiration for the Recovered Nature

- Eunsil E. J. Kho

In "Islets" and "Ulleungdo Island", Hyun-Chul Kim painted the Islets and Ulleungdo Island on hemp linen (ink wash painting and color). Grainy texture conrasts with a blue color.  Hyun-Chul Kim applied glue on the hemp linen and then pigments dozens of times and let the pigments soak through the hemp linen to create a clear, blue and clean sea. Though he used acrylic pigments, the color reminds us of indigo blue jinchaein the Northern School. In addition, he left a larger space for landscape in the islets and blank side than in the sea side. In his works, a peculiar gap between the modern and tradition creates a tight tension. As he creates landscape paintings and portraits, he values the nature, i.e. as animals and plants and human beings, pondering over 'similarities', and for absenceattempts to thoroughly materialize true characters of the nature through his inner thinking and observation. As a plan for absence, he chooses to go with color field. Color field is serene and calm like the sea not reavealing its abyss but also throbs with tension inside. We have to cross the abyss of color on the foreground to go over the traditional technique. A gap of time and space is seen in the serenity. It is as if one could taste aesthetics of filling and emptying out at same time.