"Show us the power of time! "

The canvas is generally filled with traces directly applied by the artist's hands using the two colors of blue and white. These simple traces of the hands turn the picture-plane into a field of turbulence. The force and direction added to the paint, and the repeated flow and rhythm sublimate the canvas into a work of art. Thus the works of Kim Tschoon-Su emerge as a result of endless contemplation about the simplest principles of painting. So the surface of the painting becomes the answer to the question of how the basic elements merge with one another. The principles used in the paintings gain their significance as tools to activate matter, as they go through the extremely intense thought process of the artist. It is in such a process that painting can become an act of incantation. If this is so, we can define the artist as an alchemist of thought, who combines time—formed by force or movement on the empty canvas—and the stationary state known as the painting surface.

Kim Tschoon-Su's ultramarine blue is transferred to a form of expression in the painting only after constructing its semantic identity. That is to say, as the word ultramarine is a combination of "ultra" and "marine," if we bring the significance of this up to a dimension of interpretation, it means a certain higher dimension that transcends the ocean or the color of the ocean. In fact, Kim's paintings sufficiently resemble or remind viewers of the sea. The pitching and rolling traces of paint become waves rising in the wind or wild billows. The canvas's tranquil surface of death, thanks to his actions, become organic life forms of nature, endlessly jolting and surging. Filled with bluish touches, the artist's paintings may be associated with Yves Klein, who previously used a similar color as if it were his trademark. Klein's blue merely became covered-over surfaces, or played the role of embellishing characteristics of objects, inclining to be a surface, in a neutral manner. On the other hand, Kim Tschoon-Su's blue emerges as a certain power that has extended out from the tension of the surface. Of course this force is formed in the dynamic confrontation with the white. And as these opposing items give the impression of pure movement, rather than volume or weight of matter, the interior and exterior, which divide surrounding the surface of the painting, establish themselves as space.

Kim's recent works give the impression that they widened the horizon for such variations of similarity. More white has been added, and the previously violent movement has clearly changed towards stability. Furthermore, when we compare the sizes of the canvases to former works, they seem to taking calmed-down size. In the past, the artist had focused on a certain sublime beauty and similar emotions, as he overcame the limit of senses through violent movement on large-scale picture-planes. But now he seems to be approaching more intimate mobility, and softening the intimidating impression of size for the sake of that intimacy. However, while the sublime beauty was an aesthetic emotion that was communicated after establishing a "safe distance" in terms of visual dimension, the recent works called in the spectators physically closer to provide a different type of appreciation.

The latest works advanced further from the previous analogy that resembled the sea. To put it in a Rosalind Kraus way of speech, now Kim's paintings show a more self-indicative characteristic. Furthermore, the literacy relatively decreased. An easier explanation is that Kim Tschoon-Su's paintings severed their links to association, and were restored to their own painting surfaces. That is to say they reached the principle extremity as asserted by Modernist painting theory. But such a schema is no fun. The grounds to break this schema are provided by the work itself. We are able to gain more abundant significance by defining the artist's paintings as representations of the time and of the work process he carried out as he faced the canvas. In result, the textures of the canvas surface were better perceived, the traces of the touch gained a sense of unique existence, and a correspondence between gravity and material could be read in the traces of the flowing paint. When looking at the overall picture, we receive a sense of more simplicity. This proves that the artist is attempting to paint with decisive determination, unlike the past. Moreover, the traces of the action have also become clear. The hand-work now reveals not just the dynamic nature of the action, but also the properties of the raw material that forms the color. The stains or marks, which seem to deviate from intentional control, throughout the paintings can therefore be called results constituted by the time of action.

Nevertheless, the qualities of the previous paintings are also maintained in the new works. The elements of direction, which cross the picture-plane diagonally, ease the previous tendencies of steepness, but are still perceivable. The intensity of the hand-work is moving to a more calm state from its previous aggressive tendency, but as mentioned above, it has become much more decisive. Hence, the artist is clearly expressing the path and process of his work. To art historians like myself, such clear signs of development are welcome and thankful. It means that the thoughts and practices of the artist are undergoing logical development, and serves as grounds to say that his work is consistent and progressive. Kim Tschoon-Su's paintings in this exhibition approach the origin of painterly traits, demonstrating the ultimate power of time. They are like a documentation recording the affairs of a journey to escape from the sea of conception.

Kim, Jung-Rak
(Art Historian, Head Curator of the Kim Chong Yung Sculpture Museum)