[Korean Artists in New York - 126] Pioneering a Creative Abstract World Brimming with Vitality and Sensibility
| Infusing Free-Flowing Lines, Colors and Forms with the Artist's Breath
| A Successful Scientist Achieving Mastery in Art Through Late Studies
The painter Man Hee Kim is currently in his mid-60s, living in Edgewater along the Hudson River in New Jersey while actively creating artworks. He holds exhibitions traversing between New York, Korea, Japan and elsewhere in the US. So far, he has had over 10 solo shows in Korea, the United States and Japan, participating in dozens of group exhibitions and art fairs.
From a young age, Kim was interested in painting and dreamed of becoming an artist by enrolling in an art college. However, due to family opposition, he ended up studying food science. He then devoted himself to the scientific field, serving as a professor at Eulji University in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province from 1985 to 2008.
Even while teaching, Kim could not let go of his lingering attachment to painting, squeezing in time to paint whenever possible. During spare moments from his busy schedule, he traveled worldwide, visiting museums and galleries to study the works of numerous masters, establishing his own artistic philosophy and theories on art.
One day, Kim judged that to actively pursue art, it would be better to leave his occupation. As he said, "Although I gave up a stable job, I think of it as gaining a new vocation in the long run." This expressed how his choice was his destiny and the right path forward. He then immersed himself in a life of painting over 10 hours per day. Naturally, he delved into his own expressive world. And one day, he suddenly left Korea to settle in New York City. Consequently, a once successful scientist became a professional artist later in life. However, he says this was never a shortcoming in achieving his artistry, but rather had a positive effect.
"The current art world is firmly entrenched in deep-rooted academic and social connections alongside nepotistic networks. This insular barrier they've created has caused artists to lose genuineness in their art practice. I wish to create works without being swept up in such predicaments - the inevitable ills arising from a capitalist society. This is also why I left Korea for the US, and why I diligently participate in exhibitions held abroad from here as well. Through the visual language of painting, I interact with the cultures of various nations. In this way, rather than engaging in artificial imitation and rote learning that is prevalent, I express my inner world and depict the world as seen from the heart."
Kim's works are abstract paintings. Simply put, they are paintings that freely draw lines and forms, apply colors, layer and add elements in pursuit of pure formalistic beauty. Formally, one could consider them a part of passionate abstract expressionism, but the unique aspect is that each of his paintings exudes a constantly changing, distinct feeling and emotion.
In his paintings, lines connect to lines, planes overlap planes, and achromatic and chromatic colors harmonize to emanate a surging vitality. At times there is an outpouring of fervent emotion, other times the creation of a cold, meditative space. Bold strokes dashed off in a single breath coexist with poetic, lyrical spaces akin to an autumn field achieved through repeated layering of yellow and brown paints. His paintings are poems rendered through line, color and form. The poems allow the viewer to feel the pulsating life force and the artist's very breath. Within the inner depths of his art exist towering mountains, flowing rivers, the boundlessly expansive sky and vast cosmic space.
Kim is unfettered in pouring out his innate artistic expressive urges through the mode of abstract art. Regarding Kim's paintings, art critic Kim Bok-young offered this explanation in the preface to last year's exhibition catalog at the Artexpo in New York:
"Man Hee Kim creates rough surfaces using coarse brushwork, while at other times he crosses and overlaps rapidly moving lines through powerful brushstrokes in a single breath. On one hand, he discharges and splatters paint to create a lavish feast of colors. Through this, he opens gaps between trees and forests, depicting the rising of mist and haze. Strange rock formations and valley scenery emerges, revealing scenes of crimson fall foliage and layered mountain ranges. This expressive approach stems from the experimental attitude ingrained through his lifelong exploration of nature. His abstract expressionism - transferring inspirations from nature onto the canvas or sublimating his inner emotions - was naturally formed through his life as a scientist and love for art."
Indeed, Kim says the foundation of his abstract works lies in "the fundamental scientific attitude of observing things deeply." When explaining how he paints, he says "Just as a scientist handles samples in a lab, I experiment with and observe the pigments as my samples in the process of painting." Additionally, he was innately gifted with talent for art from birth. Despite not formally studying art, he demonstrates a superb ability to subtly wield line, color and form, never losing balance while conveying all expressive elements to the highest degree. In art history, there are countless master geniuses across the East and West like Paul Gauguin and Chiho Hirano who displayed prodigious talent without professional training. Of course, the world of art is not something taught, but a realm one discovers and cultivates through self-love and passion, creating one's own world in the process, as the classics say art belongs to the lovers, not any one person.
While passionately expressing his beliefs in his unique style of painting, Kim does not forget to convey a kind of warning - his innermost thoughts on the art world. He then resolves to steadfastly march forward, transcending this unreasonable reality toward his own inner world and creative world.
"Nowadays, with the advancement of material civilization, many artworks appear through artificial processes like photography, computer graphics and video. I lament this. Even in the art world where creativity is demanded, I am concerned about merely imitating the works of leaders or painting subjects exactly as they appear. This is an unavoidable reality of art education. However, the essence of art is creation. Highly acclaimed artists break free from existing molds, presenting experimental works through which they unfold their inner realms. Amidst countless artists, I strive to possess my own unique colors that can stand out."
