The new tradition he tries to pursue is a transfiguration of our intrinsic national thought that has ceaselessly continued, and will continue, into the future. In other words, he sought two-dimensional painting underlining Korean lyricism in his previous endeavors, whereas in recent pieces he pursued three-dimensional painting simultaneously encompassing space and time based on lyricism. His work presently seeks narrative elements in Korean people's history and tradition and traditional thoughts constantly flowing within them, moving beyond a mere artistic representation of real-view landscape. His recent work therefore tends to deconstruct objects in order to conflate the past and the present synchronically and give form to his ideas. What he has left on his canvas is thus a mix of dream, void, anxiety, tradition, vanity, and the world of profound thought.

His Path through a Deep Forest

Baek Soo-in, Poet & Chosun University Professor

Jiam Kim Dae Won is now dose to me. I first met him about 40 years ago. I remember it was in my first year at the university. I cannot remember why I dropped by Huijae Moon Jang-ho's studio on the second floor of the building, just next to the Mudeung Theater on Chungjang-ro in Gwangju. What I distinctly remember is I saw a good-looking young man there. He was painting something on drawing paper placed on a military blanket, sitting on a wooden floor. He was none other than Kim Dae Won. At the time I first met and exchanged greetings with him, he was a student returning to university after completing his military service. We studied different majors, but went to university for four years and graduate school for two years together. In March 1980 when I moved to Chosun University from high school, Kim was already working there as a professor. I have thus worked at the same university for 35 years with him and watched his work in my spare time.

I remember it was the mid-1980s. There was a bar called Guitar House near the Former City Hall intersection in Geum-dong. If was excited, one was allowed to play the guitar and sing there. I could not play the guitar and sing well, but I at times called at the place as I liked the atmosphere. One day I met Kim there by chance. I discovered his talent there. I thought he had been endowed with gifts, seeing him who played the guitar and sang a medley of pop songs. I think one cannot be an artist if one is not gifted with talents. That is, no matter how hard one tries he cannot achieve his art without talent. While earning his middle and high school expenses through work, he took the path of a painter, probably because of his inborn -talent-. I was told later why he had to earn his own school expenses - the reason is closely bound up with Korean people's modern history. His deceased father (Kim Han-guen) left the teaching profession when Kim graduated from elementary school, because he could not adapt himself to everyday life spiritually, and his family thus suffered from the hardships of life_ His father had to retire due to the aftereffects of torture by Japanese police during the Japanese colonial era. Kim's family was originally a large landowner, whose family took up public offices over many generations. While his grandfather was alive, the guesthouse of his family home was used for a studio where celebrity calligraphers and painters of the time - such as Sochi and Misan - stayed and worked for several months. Kim's deceased father early learned calligraphy and reached a level enabling him to write an epitaph at age seven.

Japanese imperialists made it their business to find every way possible to exploit Korea. At the time when Korean society went through modernization, those who sensed the social change studied at modern schools in Seoul_ It is well-known that poet Kim Young-ryang, a son of a Gangjin well-to-do family, who studied at Hwimoon School (renamed Hwimoon High School in 1918) in Seoul, came down to his home Gangjin carrying the full text of Samil Proclamation of Korean Independence and ted the March 1st Movement (Samil Movement) in Gangjin and underwent the hardships of prison life. It is not well-known but Kim's deceased father was also a leader of the movement. At that time his father was a student of Hwimoon High School and witnessed the independence movement in Seoul. After returning home, he led the movement in Muan after setting a D-Day on March 19, a Muan traditional market day. The Samil Movement Muan Monument is set in Naman Park in Muan. This monument was first set in 1946, and re-erected in 1975 and 1981. The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Mokpo reveals the purpose of setting up this monument as follows:


"This monument was set in August 1975 to commemorate the independence movement led by 10 community leaders including Kim Han-geun from Muan. The independence movement in Muan was initiated when Kim Han-geun who studied in Seoul at the time heralded the independence movement in Seoul. A dozen local community leaders urged pro-Japanese collaborators to reflect on their activities, and for Muan people to stand up against Japanese colonial rule, posting the text of the Samil Proclamation of Korean Independence and warnings to pro-Japanese groups at dawn on March 19. This day crowds of hundreds continued demonstrations up to 10:00 at night, waving the Korean flag and marching down the street. The demonstrators were dispersed and 57 demonstrators including 24 key figures were arrested by Japanese police. Muan-gun county holds the March 1 commemorative event here to meditate on the significance of the movement."


Kim's father was arrested and tortured by Japanese police and went through the hardships of a prison life for one and a half years. After being released from prison he majored in dyeing (chemical engineering) at Tokyo Imperial University. After graduation he returned to Korea and got a job at a textile factory in Gaesong and later became the factory manager. Around this time he met and married to Kim's mother (Park Gui-gil). Kim's mother was a modern woman who graduated from Holston Girls' High School in Gaesong. A figure drawing attention in Kim's matrilateral side is his maternal uncle Park Kwang-jin,1) best-known as a modern painter of Korea. Park studied art at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (two-year senior of Oh Ji-ho). After returning to Korea he led the establishment of Nohyanghoe, the first modern art organization of Korea. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture describes Nokhyanghoe as follows:


"Nohyanghoe is an artist group of the formative period of the Korean Western-style painting world. The founding members were Park Kwang-jin and Kim Ju-kyung who studied at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and Shim Young-sup and Chang Suk-pyo who taught themselves in Seoul. Its first member exhibition took place at Cheondogyo Memorial Hall in May 1929. As the exhibition drew much attention, a critical essay was published in a newspaper, and participants were much encouraged. When its second exhibition was held in April 1931, Oh Ji-ho - who came back after his study at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts - and others joined the group as new members, enlivening its activities. Their works arrested the art scene's attention with their technical hallmarks and distinctive idioms. When the second show was held, the group attempted a competition for new artists, claiming the "construction of the basis for Western-style painting in Korea and the need of enlightenment of the general public".


Park Kwang-jin founded the Joseon Fine Arts Institute in 1936 and taught students like Lee Lim Western-style painting. Regrettably however, after defecting to North Korea, his activities in North Korea are not known. There are two reasons why I described his family on his father's and mother's side. First, I'd like to point out that his artistic talent seems to be rooted in the veins of the two families. Second, I intend to present a clue to help younger students to explore his works from a historical or expressive perspective. No matter how much natural talent one is born with, talent is of no use if one does not make ceaseless efforts to hone and foster their ability. I think praise fostered his art. I think praise breeds progress and get people excited. Kim received the first prize, the Governor's Award, at an art competition when he was in the first-grade elementary school student, which was perhaps high praise to him. Afterwards, while studying at middle and high school, he won numerous awards at many art competitions. I think such praise led him to the path of the painter.

Kim Dae Won's studio was on the first floor of an apartment building next to my apartment in Unlim-dong near Jeungsimsa Valley in the late 1990s. I dropped by once in a while to see his works. How did his ankle bones erode if he did not sit crossed-legged on the floor painting for hours and hours? His real-view ink wash painting was formed on the basis of his solid training. His portrayal of natural landscapes is thus very exquisite, radiating a refined artistic insight and flavor. Hs viewpoint of objects is specific and accurate. His -panoramic point of view" in his large-scale works is particularly like that of a camera. Epoch-making changes in his artistic spirit brought on a shift in his technique from the Southern School of Painting. He pursued intensity through an unrestricted expression of colors, gradually departing from the traditional Southern School of Painting technique. Afterwards, he explored a completely new pictorial world in his series Once upon a Time. In this period he creatively embraced other idioms, seeking innovation in his art. He could not encapsulate his spirit and philosophy in only the subject matter of flowers, birds, mountains, and streams.

In another essay I pointed out that this change in his art was a manifestation of his conflicting feelings towards "tradition" and "innovation". It can be said that this conflict is the core of his artistic spirit. He always takes a new path, never staying idling. He always sets a new direction. He has completely destroyed conventional painting techniques, resisting them. That is, he has audaciously abandoned traditional techniques. He sincerely copies nature in minute brushwork, underscoring his memory and symbolism of form. It can be defined as a metaphoric technique in which he represents his ideas and emotion through a whimsical, abrupt conflation of forms and objects. However, he did not shed the -tradition- he had studied for over 20 years. The new tradition he tries to pursue is a transfiguration of our intrinsic national thought that has ceaselessly continued, and will continue, into the future. In other words, he sought two-dimensional painting underlining Korean lyricism in his previous endeavors, whereas in recent pieces he pursued three-dimensional painting simultaneously encompassing space and time based on lyricism. His work presently seeks narrative elements in Korean people's history and tradition and traditional thoughts constantly flowing within them, moving beyond a mere artistic representation of real-view landscape. His recent work therefore tends to deconstruct objects in order to conflate the past and the present synchronically and give form to his ideas. What he has left on his canvas is thus a mix of dream, void, anxiety, tradition, vanity, and the world of profound thought.

He will retire this August from Chosun University where he has worked for almost 40 years as a professor, Fine Arts College Dean, and Vice President, but he will continue to walk the path of the painter. The path heads for a deep and dense woods. I am presently looking at the back of the artist who is walking on the path of his own art.