“Flowers are flowers, and people too are flowers. Birds are flowers that fly, and people are flowers.” – Kim Chong Hak

Hyundai Hwarang is presenting the solo exhibition ???????????? ???????????????????? ????????????: ???????????????????????? ???????????? ????????????????????????????. Kim Chong Hak is known widely as a painter who has created images of Mount Seorak and flowers, but scenery has not been his only subject: since the 1950s, he has also regularly created images of people as well. As part of a painting career spanning six decades, this exhibition focuses specifically on Kim’s figure paintings. Most of the 143 works on display are appearing before the public for the very first time.

The exhibition starts with Kim’s early figure paintings and related archival materials. It takes place across three exhibition spaces, the first of which presents 22 artworks, including images on paper and in oils. Early in his artistic career, Kim worked prolifically across a broad range of genres that included abstract painting, printmaking, and installations. At the same time, he maintained an ongoing interest in human subjects, who featured regularly in his work. In 1977, Kim went to live in the US for two years, during which time he encountered genres such as landscape, still-life, and portrait paintings and explored the specific forms they took. The results of his explorations appear to their greatest effect in his paintings of people.