2007.12.18 - 2008.1.15
Tae Ho Kim

Formation and Structure : The Realm of Tae-Ho Kim

by Oh, kwang -soo

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Tae-Ho Kim's pursuits until now may be grouped into three separate periods and methods. His "Figure" series continued from the late 70's to the 80's, he then experimented with works on paper with filled-out compositions in the late 80's, and continuing from 2000 are his most recent works, which investigate the elaborate rhythm that is inherent within grid formations. For over thirty years of his artistic career, Kim has pursued his style of consistency. He's upheld an unwavering commitment to his work, which may be considered contradictory. Especially considering the layout of the last 30 years of Korean modern art, the impression of contradiction becomes more striking. He debuted as an artist in the 70's, a period in Korean art where the depiction of illusionary images was avoided, and paintings repressed into monochromes were becoming the dominant trend. During this period, he boldly remained devoted to form. Rather than surrendering to the aesthetic consciousness of that time, he lay bare his convictions and was resolute in pursuing his own formal language. He falls under the heading of modern art, and his deviation from the mainstream was deemed possible by his bold confidence, though it made his debut period and the one that followed quite a struggle. Still, the countless recognition he's received for exhibitions and awards testifies to the achievement of his career, to which not many artists could be compared.
His earliest "Figure" series of opposing verticals and horizontals, weaving together illusionary figures and organic images with inorganic grinds, revealed a new aspect in painting. The concrete image of a female figure becomes only a flickering perception in the dark canvas. It is a very theatrical mode of representation, resembling the situation of an actor appearing in the spotlight in the middle of an otherwise pitch-black stage. However, the figure doesn't fully reveal itself, only fragmentary in its presence, and produces a heightened sense of mystery. Although it calls forth matters of the female figure, which is more than a mere body, its interpretation and the meaning it embodies produces another unique sense of form. The innumerable perpendicular grinds that intersect, inorganic forms gracefully interwoven, are the embodiment of a female figure, creating an altogether dramatic situation.
The varied directions of the grinds set the visual dimension and a basis of duality within the space of the canvas. This duality may be seen as the difference between appearance and form, and it can be established that it continues to serve as a basis for the works that follow this period. The dramatic visual aspect of his works originates here. The interwoven relationship between the hidden and the revealed signifies formal as well as aesthetic elements. Regarding the overlapping of inner and outer forms, if we consider art critic Bok-Young Kim's interpretation referring to the artist's surrounding rigid society during a heartless era, "With clear forms and ordered composition, regardless of their being painted in shuffling bright colors, he reveals a fantastic illusion." The inorganic grinds are criticizing, and as much as their graceful coexistence with the organic life of the female body contrasts to form a cynical perception, the rigid, heartless era is sensed, through an abundant illusionary vision. The illusion of a body that coexists and contrasts with the solid mechanical structure joined together through his recent works corresponds with the pattern of the raised structure and its internal rhythm. This pattern that was established during his first period, though able to undergo transformations, has continued to be his basis and thus exists in his most recent works as well.

This consistency in his works has brought many critics to assess Kim as possessing the nature of a "meticulous artisan." As such, he leaves nothing to chance or coincidence, but is detailed in his planning and execution. He doesn't follow along the aesthetic trends in form, due to his own characteristic identity. It's commonly known that in the field of art, though there are artists, they aren't necessarily artisans. That is to say, the art of those who only show a superficial quality is all too prevalent, while it lacks the meticulous quality of an artisan. There's a lesson to be learned from Kim's manner of work, which can only be held in high regards. He's been described as "an artist who, from the very start of the process, envisions a piece in his head in detail, keeping its conclusion in mind." Kim's works, from his first period through his most recent, consciously maintain a rhythm that comes from the thorough and detailed nature of his art-making, meticulously labored.

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Shape and composition that become more and more introspective characterize his works from the 80's, as they become equally as aesthetically rich. Art critic Il Lee has described them as "not strictly one thing or the other, they arouse delicate evocations of things remembered." From the clear reference to a female body that began around this time, he progressed onto another form. As he'd been working the organic rhythms of life into his work, he created a transformed image by reverting it specifically to the female body. In removing the solid context of a female body, the pieces remain sustained by their own compositional logic. Those of his first period, that have a clear signification of a female body, had not yet fully integrated a structural logic. More than a mere contrast, the dual opening and closing that had been appearing was more a unification of contrast and compromise, further pulling together his formal vision.
In progressing towards a different phase, Kim was able to more firmly grasp the meaning behind his work His period of bringing together the process of printmaking with the nature of Han-ji, traditional Korean paper, was not coincidental. In printing, he demonstrates a solid understanding of the paper's compositional properties, and applies it in reconstituting Han-ji for his pieces. At the onset of the 80's, Korean traditional paper was becoming universally preferred among modern artists, but Kim was still able to transcend that trend. Though he took up Han-ji, his discovery of this material goes beyond its basic qualities. The particular Korean sentiment shared by Korean modern artists is imparted through the material. More than just identifying with this Korean sentiment through art, Kim makes a distinctive point. For his work, this paper is not only a medium, but exists as a physical material. To the Korean people, who were born, rose in, and exist in the spaces enclosed by this material, it encompasses a deeper significance to their culture then any other. In using this particular material he experiences its physicality, as well as integrates a deep consciousness to retain the particular essence of Korean culture.
This particular success of his works with printmaking and Han-ji was a foreseeable one, given his capacity as a master of the craft. Winning the highest award at the 1986 Seoul International print Biennale, following several international shows solo exhibitions for printing, set him in his place. Kim communicates his message through the paper by making use of the paper's quality, and his workings with paper project onto the canvas his unique interpretation of the material's physicality. His point of interest is the reactions caused by his physical interaction with the paper's material. The strokes and marks of the brush that wear down on the paper leave partially torn trails on the canvas, that lead the mind to other conceivable spaces. His action of contact with the paper combined with the quality of the material produce a delicate means of expression, again forming a different aspect on the solid material of the overlapping interwoven forms. Il Lee points out that "more than a mere transformation of the material, these are a transformation of his painting on the whole." Although the contrasting straight and curved lines are a continued pattern from previous periods, these transformations would go on to produce deeper, broader compositions.
His main modes of representation are repetitive patterns and overall composition. These perpendicular forms are like a repetitive script written across his recent works, but his early works are flatter in comparison. His repetitive action and progression towards flatter surfaces show a reversion to painterly qualities in connection to the aesthetic of monochrome painting. Art critic Young-Soon Kim remarks; "As a representative figure painter of the 70's and 80's, Tae-Ho Kim and his particular construction of bright colors and illusions stood out during that period of monochromes, the result of which created a certain harmony within Korean modern art." However, his monochrome-style works are clearly different from his usual forms. The various tones of his canvases contrast with the fixed tones of the monochromes, and traces of the various colors cover the entire canvas, producing richly colored pieces. Particular to these pieces, "the layers of paint formed on the canvas bring back the spirit of the ancient artists to meet the living one of this artist, the same way that the outer structure and the fine textures become one within the canvas." If it weren't for this process, the forms of his recent pieces may not have come about. The period following the paper works of repetition and overall compositions is a demonstration of his excessive work. Considered visually, his monochrome works may be considered to have come late, from the late 70's to the 80's. However, his monochromes are the result of his own characteristic process one may say that. They were an exceptional period in his career.

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The series of his recent works continuing from 2000 are characterized by his brush strokes and thickly painted colors. Primarily, they appear to contrast significantly with his previous works. Most of all, the thick layers of paint built into bulky masses clearly differ from the flat illusionary pieces of his first period, and from the physicality and overall compositions of his works with paper. Regarding his process, he first draws interwoven lines. Following these lines he creates a fixed rhythm. After building up twenty layers of paint, if he scrapes away at the densely built up material, the colors that had been buried can rhythmically come alive within the structure. Countless visual spaces are constructed within the overlapping grid formations, each cell within like that of a beehive, producing its own life in the realm of the painting. The concept of Kim's work is of both building and breaking down. The repeated grid formations are the framework of a fixed thickness, while within the structure are crowded, densely massed circular forms. As he states, "The process of eliminating emphasizes the structure,"his method of scraping and carving away at the meticulously layered paint is paradoxical. Because innumerable layers of color are built up, scraping away only partially brings the buried colors rhythmically back to life. The contrast between the breathing colors within the solid outer structure creates a mysterious sense of life. The representative duality that originates from his first period has been transferred. After examining these works, it seems that his method can even become more meaningful that his mode of representation.
His method is based on a precise process. The laborious process of building up twenty layers of paint is seemingly done in vain, even more so because he carves and scrapes away at the layers. Though the meticulous building appears to be insensibly broken down through scraping, only to be built up and broken down again in a repetitive process, the mysterious effect of the brilliant colors and the sense of rhythm that are revealed through this process probably could not be attained otherwise. Without the densely filled colored cells harmonized within the grid structure, the pieces would lose their vitality. Without the visual weight and rhythm within those dense layers, they would become lifeless lumps of paint. Japanese art critic Zibashikeo remarks that Kim "is a painter who attains something from beyond the flat surface of the material," but what is that "something"? Perhaps he foresees a process that surpasses those who operate on what is visual. Since "aspects of texture and vision, time and space become integrated before dispersing again to form new meanings," Kim deviates from the common grammar of paint-making, and his recent works are a fundamental challenge to painting itself as to whether or not limits can exist in painting.