▲ Kim Kulim in the 1980s ⓒ MMCA

A solo exhibition highlighting the art world of Kim Kulim, a pioneer of experimental art in Korea, was held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA). The exhibition was designed to observe the artist's avant-garde moves, which have built his area across various media, genres, and themes from the 1950s to the present.

Although Kim is an artist who occupies an important position in the history of contemporary Korean art, the public has not been provided with enough opportunities to experience his works and the art world. Through the exhibition, the audience will be able to examine the achievements and actions of Kim, the current artist.

▲  Nucleus 1-62, 1962, Vinyl and oil on panel, 181.591cm, Private collection, Matter-62, 1962, Vinyl and oil on canvas, 180x88.5cm, Private collection 

His omnidirectional activities have continued since the 1950s. Born in Sangju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, he denied existing values and customs and continued to do experimental work ranging from painting, printmaking, sculpture, installation art, performance, land art, video art, and mail art. He also borrowed art forms from other genres such as theater, film, music, and dance.

At that time, the Korean art world was dominated by Informal art, which was influenced by Dadaism and Surrealism, and unlike other artists, he built an unstructured screen through performances without using a brush. The most representative work of this period is the 'Death of Sun (1964)', which the artist describes as "the first attempt to make a painting that was not painted."

▲  The Meaning of 1/24 Second, 1969, single-channel video, color, silent, 10min, MMCA collection The Meaning of 1/24 Second Leaflet, 1969, 10x17.5cm, Courtesy of the artist

In 1969, he introduced Relics of Mass Media, Korea's first mail art, and produced The Meaning of 1/24 Second, a major film company in Korea. He was also a major founding member of the Korea Avant-Garde Association (AG) and carried out activities to emphasize the concept and process of avant-garde art.

He formed 'Painting 68' with artists from Seoul National University and showed 'Space Construction', a formative interpretation of Op Art. The work creates repetitive rhythms in order by attaching a perforated plastic hemisphere to the screen. Based on this, he created 'Electric Art A' and 'Electric Art B,' in which electric light leaks through holes in the hemisphere, and introduced works that are considered Korea's first electric art, but the materials of the two original works sold shortly after the exhibition in 1969 are currently impossible to confirm.

▲  From Phenomenon to Traces, 1970, plastic box, ice, transparent paper, 170x120x30cm, Courtesy of the artist From Phenomenon to Traces Drawings, 1970, color pencil on paper, 33.3x33.3cm, Courtesy of the artist

In the 1970s, Kim formed 'The Fourth Group', an avant-garde art group composed of young artists and intellectuals from various fields, and pursued a total art that combined art, theater, film, fashion, and music. After moving to Japan, the artist experimented with printmaking and video art in earnest.

The artist produced performances with Kang-ja Jung, a female performance artist of the time, and a direct moving screen in white tights, projecting a slide image made from a cut from the movie on top of it. 

▲  From Phenomenon to Trace, 1970 (printed in 2000), land art, 99x148cm, MMCA collection From Phenomenon to Trace Leaflet, 1970, 22.3x19.3cm, Courtesy of the artist

He also experimented with the land art project for the first time on April 11, 1970. He dug seven triangles on a 100-meter slope next to the bridge across the river from Hanyang University in front of Hanyang University, making seven triangles and lighting the grass. This was inspired by the Jubulnori, which burned rice paddies and fields during the Daeboreum and showed the shape of the grass that was originally the same material but was recognized as a different phenomenon through the act of burning.

▲  Broom, 1973, color on object, 130x90cm, Courtesy of the artist Wiping Cloth, 1974, single-channel video, color, silent, 2min. 7sec., Courtesy of the artist

Kim stayed in Japan from 1973 to 1975 to explore the relationship between objects and time in more depth and was influenced by Mono-ha, which is the spiritual concept in Japan that values the situational existence of objects, was preached and carried out creative activities such as coloring ready-made products such as brooms, mops, and buckets or wearing sandpaper on the surface. This is his methodology to return the present time to the past, and he expressed his values that the objects we see are not the essence, but just phenomena.
 

▲  Landscape, 1987, color on canvas and tree branch, 142x174cm, Courtesy of the artist Yin and Yang 91-L 13, 1991, acrylic on canvas, fishing rod, bucket, 213x335cm, Private collection

In the 1980s, he visited the United States and sought a change in his work. He began working on 'Tree' and 'Landscape' based on his pure admiration for nature while living in a building forest in Manhattan, New York. He asked questions about reality and perception by mixing objects and images on the screen, and he connected several canvases to renew the way images were reproduced or conflicting concepts.

Since the 2000s, the artist has been producing object works using alien-looking images or wastes such as Statues and Skeletons. He builds a new present by collaging popular images circulating through the mass media or dismantling and recombining multiple objects.

▲ The poster of the exhibition ⓒ MMCAAs such, he freely crossed various media from the 1950s to the present, but he reacted quickly according to the changes of the times, leaving his artistic footprint.

Through Kim's exhibition held at the MMCA, visitors will be able to experience the journey of an artist in the history of contemporary Korean art, the atmosphere of contemporary art styles, and the history of global art flows.

The exhibition is being held until Feb. 12 at MMCA Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Sayart / Nao Yim, yimnao@naver.com