| Kim Kitaeg: A contemporary bird-and-flower painter-Kong Kwangsik | |
Kong Kwangsik (Curator of the Daejeon Museum of Art) Kim Kitaeg: A contemporary bird-and-flower painter The Daejeon Museum of Art is pleased to present the special winners’ exhibition of the 11thLeeDonghoonPrizefollowingitsmainwinner’sexhibition.The11thspecialwinnersareKimKitaekandJeonHyungjoo. As Daejeon grew into an important traffic hub in Korea during the Japanese occupation, the Daejeon art scene gradually formed in which Lee Donghoon was a central figure from the very beginning. The Lee Donghoon Prize, started in 2003 in honour of his contribution to the local as well as national art scene, already marked its 10thyearandhasbegunitsnewdecade. Consisting of one main and two special awards, the Prize is awarded to artists who have shown a steady development of their own visual language, to encourage them to continue their practice. The main winner each year is provided with an opportunity to exhibit selected quality artworks at the Daejeon Museum of Art in the following year. This opportunity was not, however, previously given to the winners of the special awards, which has been presented to local artists in accordance with the goals and purpose of the Prize. Having discussed the matter on the occasion of its 10thyearcelebration,thePrizeCommitteedecidedtoexhibitthespecialwinnersattheDaejeonMuseumofArtfromthisyearonwards.AsacuratorresponsibleforthepresentationofthePrize,IthinkthatthedecisionmeansalotinthePrize’sdevelopmentregardingitslongemphasisonthelocalartscene. Both Kim Kitaek and Jeon Hyungjoo graduated from Mokwon University (Art Education) in the early ‘80s, and have been seriously working based in Daejeon ever since. As seen in <Morning Dew> series (2010~2014) by Kim Kitaek and <Conceptual Garden> (2009~2012) & <Walk in the Old Palace> (2012~2014) series by Jeon Hyungjoo, the two similarly started their career by working with natural subjects. Kim Kitaek explores nature to find motifs for his work. The natural images in his paintings represent the vitality of living things. He highlights the lives of living creatures in a hyperrealistic manner to deliver the meaning and value of even the smallest of living things. Jeon Hyungju’s natural images exhibit a certain tenacity, on the other hand, as if he intends to overwhelm the spectators with the images. Here, we encounter the different aesthetic worlds of two artists as revealed through their different methodologies and different focus on natural objects and spaces. The main subject in Kim Kitaek’s paintings is the plum blossom. The flower is a beloved subject in art, being the earliest blossom of the year and having a strong fragrant scent that has inspired many artists and writers. Traditionally, they are considered one of the three companies to survive the cold winter, 歲寒三友 (sae-han-sam-woo), along with bamboo and pine trees, while representing ‘patience’ and ‘fidelity’ as one of the Four Gracious Plants—the other three are the orchid, chrysanthemum and bamboo—which symbolize the qualities of noblemen. Among many paintings of plum blossoms, <歲寒三友圖 (sae-han-sam-woo-do)> painted by Hae-ae during the late Goryeo Dynasty of Korea well depicts the plum blossom as a symbol of the dignity of noblemen along with two large pine trees located in the middle with bamboo on its left side. A poet, Lin Bu (967-1028) expressed his love for the plum blossom in a poem, <山園小梅 (san-won-so-mae): little blossom of hill garden>, which is needless to say one of the best poems produced during the Northern Song dynasty. The famous Joseon genre painter Kim Hongdo (1745-1806?) left a beautiful plum blossom painting, <梅竹圖 (mae-juk-do): painting of plum blossom and bamboo> as well. A Confucian scholar of the Joseon Dynasty, Toegye Yi Hwang (1501-1570) called the plum blossom a ‘white saint’ in his writing. Likewise, for such a long period of time, the plum blossom was adored by many scholars and rendered in multiple art forms such as poetry, writing and painting, and still is appreciated greatly. Ever since he was drawn to the charm of the plum blossom as so many other artists have been, Kim Kitaek has been painting the flowers constantly. However, the plum blossoms in his paintings are not like those of traditional writers and artists, either in ink brushstrokes or in feibai, but are instead painted in his distinctive hyperrealistic manner. <Morning Dew> shows plum flowers bearing moisture. He captured the most exciting moment of the buds bursting into bloom in the middle of the canvas. What he paints is the flowers, which are tangible and before our eyes, rather than symbolic flowers in dignity or in spirit. For so long, we have been reading in the plum blossom the spirit and nobility against worldliness of noblemen, but not, unfortunately, the real flowers before our eyes. Flowers that bloom and fall over and over again were considered trivial in the past, whereas Kim Kitaek paints the daily little events of the flowers, saying, “Even in the smallest blade and branch is the law of nature embodied”. To him, ‘presence’ and ‘absence’ are not different. He knows that they are both part of nature. Artists mostly are pressured with thoughts of finding something brand new and good to appeal to everyone, to create a unique oeuvre in their own right. Kim Kitaek is not an exception in that sense: he has continuously carried out his artistic experiments from the beginning of his career. However, such experiments eventually concluded with this thought, like he said, “paint what you like, having fun and feeling happy with it”. He realized only later how difficult that could be. He keeps painting following his heart rather than an ideal. At this point, we wonder what meaning his practice has, focusing on the plum blossom as a mere flower instead of following the conventional treatment of the flower as a symbolic representation. Doesn’t it say that an ideal is constructed on a little mere flower after all? The <Morning Dew> series showing plum flowers with birds is a contemporary version of a bird-and-flower painting. He has long explored flowers and birds in nature. If people find happiness in the harmonious presence between birds and flowers, what does that mean? What does the fact that people have constantly painted the littlest creatures since ancient times mean? Perhaps it shows one of the essential reasons and purposes of painting, which started with the beginning of humankind. His relationship with flowers and birds in paintings such as <Bird> (2003), <Sparrow> (2008), <Rosebay> (2009) and <Peach Blossom> (2009) has deepened in his recent painting series such as <Morning Dew> (2010-2012), and <Spring Rain> (2014). Kim Kitaek started as an oil painter, has conducted multiple experiments in technique and medium, and now is finding his aesthetic foundation in an Eastern view of nature to develop his practice more widely. In a little flower, he renders a simple truth that human beings are part of nature and subject to its law and changes, and likewise, art is not far from our daily life but part of it. His meticulous and delicate painting practice deserves to be appreciated considering the preference for simplified and easier expression of contemporary painters. His practice continues to evolve covering the Eastern and the Western in technique and in expression, which makes us constantly look forward to seeing his next step. |
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ARTIST Criticism
