It has already been around a half-century since abstract painting was first introduced to Korea. A mere decade ago, abstract art was regarded as avant-garde artwork. At one point in Korea, there was a boom in abstract art in which a number of artists were involved. Unlike such an atmosphere of the past, figurative art, which is considered to go against the mainstream in contemporary art, has been revived, and thus, abstract art has been diminished.

Under these circumstances, more artists are again considering engaging in abstract art. Some prestigious art college graduates and university professors tend to exaggerate and embellish their abstract art using their prestigious education background and job titles, since the general public as well as art experts alike are often unable to properly assess the depth their abstract work. This being said, when viewing work by Korea’s senior professors-cum-artists as well as other leading artists, I often feel a lack of an aesthetic sense and depth. Abstract art, however, is a genre that demands the higher level of sensibility and senses than representational art.

I have noted that Kim’s abstract art is highly regarded only for its pure artistry. His abstract work differs from and is more abundant in its sensibility and higher in its quality than work by any other artists in Korea. This is probably because he enjoys making paintings and is able to express something in detail using his inborn artistic disposition and acute eye. When talking with him at his studio, I noticed that he works very seriously and works to maintain the most utmost sense of the exemplary spirit of artisanship. Unlike other abstract artists, his studio is extremely clean and cozy. There is no ostentatious display of large-scale artworks there. The merit behind his work is a deep, serious immersion in his work. He is much interested in meditation for his mental practice and lowers himself to create good work. He also wants to see many artworks and talk about them a lot. If staying overseas, he purchases many books and catalogs and review them for enhancing his critical viewpoint. Kim’s artistic sense and keen eye alone are enough to evoke rich emotional qualities. Acutely sensing the beginning, middle, and end of work, he accurately and appropriately brings his work to an end. He also has the ability to bring about vitality and liveliness by freely adjusting the depth of the canvas.

That is, he has the keen ability to render a painting with an extremely abundant pictorial quality. Kim intends to create static, meditative work to lead viewers to think without entirely relying on his or her own innate senses and sensibility. Placed at a corner of his work are the shapes of α and Ω pursuing the origin of the world and tiny original forms that represent the source of all things. His work is rendered in a Western style but has extremely Korean elements that can remind viewers of The Morning Calm. Refined and even tidy, his work appears primitive and crude, like rock painting from the prehistoric age. “Whenever I do a painting, I think of the state reflected by light.” He said. He seems to bear sunlight like a calm morning in his heart. Each of Kim’s works profusely show that he is a devout Christian. The figures 3217 in accord with lines made with childlike purity and unreserved freedom are symbolic of the Trinity. Yellow, red, and blue symbolize the Father, the Son, and the Holy Mother respectively. Each flow of different colors mixes in harmony with one another, and naturally flowing semi-abstract shapes and abandoned lines are also in accord with each other without any sense of rejection or discontinuity .As if in rock paintings in Bangudae, free-flowing, atypical lines appear scattered naturally and combine with one another, demonstrating the force of form derived from the purity of rhythm.

This indecipherable force of form is perhaps derived from his unreserved liberty and pure innocence. The Chinese great philosopher Yi Zhuowu remarked that good painting must has childlike innocence. His work with life and vitality appear extremely humanistic, not hard and stiff. This is because he works with childlike purity and inspiration from warmhearted light. A wide range of colors such as violet, blue, yellow, bluish gray, green, and scarlet are seeped into his canvas like the feast of light. A Christian scent oozes out from this feast of color and light. The stream of heterogeneous elements that serenely flows in harmony refers to the Trinity. As if the signal symbols that Susanne Langer commented about endlessly flow in a vast space of the universe in a lively state, the various factors of Kim’s work are alive and breathe, pruning themselves with their own appearance. Artist Kim Hong-tae is as gentle and pure as a child whenever we meet him, but when talking about his work, he appears energetic and passionate. “In a painting I feel like I am traveling,” he remarked. We cannot predict which direction his artistic sensibility flows. His innate sensibility is one with the provisions of nature and the universe, helping to shape beautiful artworks.

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