recording the history contained in the "human face"

Sayart.net

Maria Kim, sayart2022@gmail.com 

SEOUL ART SHOW 2022 started on the 21st at COEX 1F HALL A, Samseong-dong, Gangnam, Seoul. The title of the special exhibition is Originality of Korean Art, and it is decorated with works of influential, elder, and deceased artists loved by art lovers.  

▲ Photo by Maria Kim@SayArt.net

The selected artists are KANG Hyungkoo, KIM Kulim, PARK Youngha, LEE Seungtaek, LEE Ufan, and JHEON Soocheon.

Among them, on the 21st, SayArt met and talked with KANG Hyungkoo, a painter who is famous worldwide for his hyper realistic portraits.

He was born in 1954 in Yeongdong, Chungcheongbuk-do Province, South Korea, and studied at the Department of Western Painting at Chung-Ang University. In particular, He studied portraits intensively when Korean painters did not pay much attention to them., and painted many works. ▲ Photo by Maria Kim@SayArt.net

Starting with his first solo exhibition in 2001, he presented around 100 portraits at the Seoul Arts Center, Chosun Ilbo Museum of Art, and Samsung Plaza Gallery.

He became famous after the exhibitions and had many portrait orders and opportunities to earn a lot of money, but he refused. The reason he drew portraits is not to make a lot of money, but to record the history contained in the "human face".

He always draws the face of a specific person in a big way. Viewers are especially fascinated by the shining eyes of the figures he draws.

 

▲ Photo by Maria Kim@SayArt.net

His works are hyper-realistic. As if his work is evaluated as crossing the boundary between photography and painting. However, he rather says that he is not a hyper-realist painter.

When he draws a face, he uses an airbrush, cotton swab, and eraser rather than a brush. He is used as a tool such as a sharp nail or scissors. Using these tools, he paints the hair and skin of the face in his works as if they were alive. In particular, the finale of his work is the unique skin color and shining eyes. They seize the audience for a moment in front of the work and make it impossible to move even one step.