Past Exhibition
KoreanABOUT THE ARTIST
![](http://thecolumnsgalley.cdn2.cafe24.com/exhibition/kim_kang_yong/kim_kang_yong_portrait.jpg)
Kim Kang Yong (B.1950- South Korea)
KIM, who was born in 1950, conveyed the realities of life in Korea on canvas in a hyperrealist manner
in the 1970s. His long-time subject matter, bricks, has now become the artist¡¯s trademark. KIM¡¯s
bricks, presented in a neutral and mechanical representation of real bricks, can be considered as
Korean reinterpretation of Hyperrealism. KIM¡¯s paintings are so distinctive that they paintings are
clearly distinguished from traditional figurative art as well as American Hyperrealism, which the artist
was influenced by. Thus, what characterizes his work is not hyperrealist technique - it is simulacre,
whereby an image becomes independent from the original, turns far more real than the original
itself and functions as its own reality eventually.
In Kim's paintings, bricks exist only as images. They appear to be bricks, but they are in fact merely images; we see the image and mistake it for a brick. In this way, the painting skillfully dismantles boundaries as it moves back and forth between the real and the image. Rather than being a receptacle to contain the real, the canvas is a tool for confirming the two-dimensionality of a virtual image unconnected with the real. Because the bricks seem so real, they give the viewer the impulse to touch them.
Shadow is another important element in understanding Kim's paintings. The artist has said outright that he has painted shadows rather than bricks. He carefully shapes a surface embedded with sand grains of a single color, as though leveling the ground. It is shading alone that transforms those grains into bricks, and it is entirely through the adding of shadow that the artist generates the effects of a divided surface, of some parts projecting outward and others falling inward, of bricks appearing jumbled or stacked high. Thus, the secret behind Kim's ability to produce an illusion of reality by giving the appearance of brick forms, or by giving them expression, essentially lies in shadow.
Because Kim's paintings are so realistic, they have often been categorized as hyperrealism. The artist has a different idea, however. "People often categorize my work as hyperrealism, but the bricks in my paintings are all an illusion. They are all 'virtual bricks.' For me, bricks are merely the subjects that express my artistic world; the bricks themselves are not important. The theme of my work is repetition and formativity," he says.
In Kim's paintings, bricks exist only as images. They appear to be bricks, but they are in fact merely images; we see the image and mistake it for a brick. In this way, the painting skillfully dismantles boundaries as it moves back and forth between the real and the image. Rather than being a receptacle to contain the real, the canvas is a tool for confirming the two-dimensionality of a virtual image unconnected with the real. Because the bricks seem so real, they give the viewer the impulse to touch them.
Shadow is another important element in understanding Kim's paintings. The artist has said outright that he has painted shadows rather than bricks. He carefully shapes a surface embedded with sand grains of a single color, as though leveling the ground. It is shading alone that transforms those grains into bricks, and it is entirely through the adding of shadow that the artist generates the effects of a divided surface, of some parts projecting outward and others falling inward, of bricks appearing jumbled or stacked high. Thus, the secret behind Kim's ability to produce an illusion of reality by giving the appearance of brick forms, or by giving them expression, essentially lies in shadow.
Because Kim's paintings are so realistic, they have often been categorized as hyperrealism. The artist has a different idea, however. "People often categorize my work as hyperrealism, but the bricks in my paintings are all an illusion. They are all 'virtual bricks.' For me, bricks are merely the subjects that express my artistic world; the bricks themselves are not important. The theme of my work is repetition and formativity," he says.
EDUCATION | |
1950 | Born in Jung-Eup, Korea |
1978 | B.F.A. Department of Painting, College of Fine Art, Hong-Ik University, Seoul, Korea |
1981 | M.F.A. Department of Painting, College of Fine Art, Hong-Ik University, Seoul, Korea |
BFA College of Fine Art Hong-Ik University Seoul, Korea | |
MFA College of Fine Art Hong-Ik University Seoul, Korea | |
COLLECTIONS | |
Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea | |
Nat¡¯l Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea | |
Hong-Ik University Museum, Seoul, Korea | |
Sungkok Museum, Seoul, Korea | |
Ki Dam Museum, Jeju Island, Korea | |
Park Soo Keun Museum, Yanggu, Korea | |
Seoul Health College, Seoul, Korea | |
Korean Ministry of Foreign Affair and Trade, Seoul, Korea | |
Incheon District Supreme Prosecutors Office, Incheon, Korea | |
Pakyoungsa, Seoul, Korea | |
Sam Kwang Collection, Seoul, Korea | |
Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, USA | |
EXHIBITION | |
2023 | The Boundaries Between Reality and Image, The Columns Gallery, Singapore |
2022 | Studio Kki, Paju |
2020 | Seonggok Museum of Art, Seoul |
2019 | Han Collection, London, UK |
Gallery LVS, Seoul | |
2017 | Seoul Arts Center, Seoul |
2016 | FN Gallery, Seoul |
2014 | Gallery MAHA 21, Seoul |
2013 | Partner Lichtenfels, Vienna, Austria |
Gallery Michael Schultz, Beijing, China | |
2012 | Reality + Images, Galerie Michael Schultz, Berlin, Germany (solo) |
2011 | The Seoul Art Exhibition 2011, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea |
Legend of the Fall, Beacon Gallery | |
Kim Kang-Yong Suh Yong-Sun Exhibition, Ryumijae Gallery | |
2010 | Gallery Pakyoung, Seoul, Korea (solo) |
Brick Opens Korean Modern Architecture, Clayarch Gimhae Museum, Korea | |
30th Anniversary of the Young Korean Artists, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea | |
The More, THe Better, Sun Gallery, Seoul, Korea | |
2009 | Reality + Images: New Paintings by Kimg Kang Yong, The National Art Museum of China (solo) |
2008 | Contemporary Artists 55, Seoul Art Center, Seoul, Korea |
2007 | 38 Artists in Emporia tower, Seoul, Korea |
CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE-Some 130 Artists, INSA Art Center, Seoul, Korea | |
Korean Hyper Realism, Gallery LM, Seoul, Korea | |
RED&BLUE, INSA Art Center, Seoul, Korea | |
Art Season Gallery, Singapore (solo) | |
Gallery Kaze, Osaka, Japan (solo) | |
Korean Painting from the 1970's, Seoul Art Center,Seoul, Korea | |
The 17 Brightest Artists-Latest Works, INSA Art Center,Seoul, Korea | |
2006 | Neuhooff Gallery, New York (solo) |
Mono Gallery, Beijing, China (solo) | |
Reduction and Expansion of Contemporary Art, Seoul Art Center, Seoul, Korea | |
Illusion/Disillusion, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea | |
Time of Life, The Face of Time, Seongnam Art Center Museum, Seoul, Korea | |
2005 | Korea Art Company Gallery, Seoul (solo) |
Nature + Accident = Image | |
Master painting from Seven Great Korean Artists Gallery Korea in New York, USA | |
The most motable Korean artists of 22 Insa Art Center Gallery, Seoul | |
Magic Art, Chosun ilbo Art Center, Seoul | |
Art Center, Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul | |
2004 | Image Utopia Han Jeon Art Center Seoul, Korea |
Art Cologne 2004, Messe, Cologne, Germany | |
COHENSION, Art Scene China, Shanghai, China | |
Looking for light and colors (Seoul Art Center, Seoul) | |
2003 | JOHYUN Gallery, Busan (solo) |
Twenty Years with Park Ryu Sook Gallery, Seoul | |
Memory of Park Soo Keun, Park Soo Keun Museum, Yang Gu | |
2002 | Park Ryu-Sook Gallery, Seoul (solo) |
10th Anniversary Exhibition of Gong Pyung Art Center, Seoul | |
Impressions by 10 Artists, Gamo gallery, Seoul | |
The Site of live, Yang Pyung Museum, Yang Pyung | |
stream of Sprits, Nepal museum, Nepal | |
2001 | The leading Contemporary Artists in 21th Century, Liz Gallery, Yang Pyung |
200 Artists Exhibition, Sun Gallery, Seoul | |
2001 | Reality and Illusion, Sindoricoh Art Hall |
Illusion and Reality: Hyperrealism Painting in Korea and America, Samsung Museum of Modern Art, Seoul | |
2000 | San Francisco Art Exposition, Park Ryu Sook Gallery San Francisco, CA, USA |
Six Contemporary Artists From Korea, Comenoz Gallery USA | |
Park Ryu-Sook Gallery, Seoul (solo) | |
1999 | Kasan Gallery, Seoul (solo) |
1998 | '98 Korean Art Awards, Seoul Art Center Seoul, Korea |
Yeemock Gallery, Seoul (solo) | |
1997 | Origin Exhibition, Seoul Art Center Seoul, Korea |
1995 | Chuje Gallery, Seoul (solo) |
1992 | Yeemock Gallery, Seoul (solo) |
1988 | Fine Arts Center , Seoul (solo) |
1986 | Yun Gallery, Seoul (solo) |
1984 | Cultural Center Gallery, Dae Jeon , Korea (solo) |
1983 | Growrich Gallery, Seoul (solo |