.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
“My work is a spatial universe. I paint dots when thinking of Seoul, of a thousand things”—Kim Whanki
In the vast and boundless blue, 19-VI-71 #206 flows like an ocean of stars, quietly extending beyond the canvas into a realm of serenity. Painted in 1971 by Korean abstract pioneer Kim Whanki, this monumental piece belongs to his celebrated All-over Dot Painting period (1970–1974) when the artist pushed the motif of the “dot” to its very limits, covering the entire surface with rhythmic constellations to evoke a meditative Zen-ness drawn from Eastern philosophy. These works stand as the zenith of Korean modern abstraction, embodying the purest and most transcendent ideals of art, and have dominated the artist’s top ten auction records without exception. The grand, immersive size of the single canvas, spanning over a hundred inches, the deep yet richly varied tonalities of blue, and the dynamic composition that flows toward the viewer make the work an enduring icon of twentieth-century abstract art on the global stage.
The canvas is composed of countless dots—glimmering like stars in the night sky, rippling like waves across water. To achieve this effect, Kim first brushed the surface of the cotton canvas with a layer of blue paint and then laid it horizontally. He blended oil paint with a generous amount of turpentine to dilute the texture of the oil, achieving clarity and lightness akin to ink. With a fine ink brush, he then thoughtfully applied each dot in a rhythm both meditative and precise.
The interplay of deep and airy blue creates an endless rhythm of nature, reminiscent of Vincent van Gogh’s swirling water surfaces reflecting shimmering stars—transcending the beauty of nature through expressive, sweeping brushstrokes. Kim achieves a comparable transcendence through stillness and the rhythmic application of dabs of paint.
Kim’s early dot painting What Form Shall We Meet Again (1970, Private collection), which won the Grand Prize at the 1st Korean Art Grand Prize Exhibition in 1970, marked the beginning of the All-over Dot Painting series. The title was drawn from a poem by his close friend, the Korean modern poet Kim Kwang-seop:
“Amongst so many stars up in the sky, a star is gazing down at me.
Amongst so many people down here, I gaze upon the star.
As night goes deeper, the star is lost in the light, and I get lost in the dark.
Such endearment, one me and one you; where, in what form, shall we meet again?”
Kim Kwang-seop, In the Evening, 1969
In this poetic dialogue between the painter and the poet, Kim Whanki demonstrates his inner universe: luminous and infinite. In 19-VI-71 #206, Kim delineated a square to frame each dot after painting it. The diluted paint seeps into the cotton canvas and spreads naturally, permeating like ink on paper. Each dot stands alone, as the smallest molecule composing everything in the universe, yet breathes in harmony with the others—distinct yet interconnected. Through countless hours of repetition and focus, the act of painting becomes a meditative process of spiritual reflection.
Kim Whanki grew up during the Japanese colonial period in Korea and studied art in Tokyo, as many of his Korean peers did, due to the lack of art education in Korea. He absorbed Cubist and Fauvist vocabularies while seeking ways to root his work in Korean culture. From 1956 to 1959, he lived in Paris, immersing himself in European abstraction and modernist thought, while weaving in Korean imagery—from celadon and moon jars to landscapes. These experiences laid the groundwork for his transformation, but the decisive turning point came in 1963 when he moved to New York.
At the heart of the global art scene, Kim engaged in dialogue with contemporary masters. He was introduced to Mark Rothko, an artist Kim greatly admired for his meditative fields of color, shaken by their spiritual intensity and the way his use of vast color could pierce human emotion. Kim was also moved by Barnett Newman’s solemn monochromes that evoked primal sublimity and confronted viewers with existence itself. These artists taught him that scale is a language: a massive canvas is not merely to be viewed, but to engulf the viewer entirely.
While inspired by these artists, Kim chose to build his universe from countless blue dots without edge, layered patiently to create an equally immersive experience. Unlike the overwhelming force of Abstract Expressionism in New York, Kim’s work leans toward Eastern contemplation, placing the individual within an infinite ocean of stars, evoking both grandeur and poetic serenity, and transforming Western sublimity into an Eastern cosmology.
The color blue lies at the heart of Kim’s language. It embodies nature, memory, and home—a deep emotional connection to the sky and sea of Korea. “The sky in our homeland Korea is intensely blue... not only the sky, but the East Sea is just as clear and blue, as if the seawater could stain a white towel blue” (K. Whanki, quoted in P. Mee-jung, Whanki: A Pioneer of Korean Modern Art, Whanki Museum, Seoul, 2017, p. 90). For Kim, painting became a way to return to that distant landscape—a quiet conversation with his homeland from across the ocean. Each dot seems to pulse with longing, transforming remembrance into form. Within his cosmos of blue, one feels the energy of the East Sea and the hush of Seoul’s night sky.
In his final years, Kim Whanki wove Eastern stillness with Western abstraction through blue dots, forging a new artistic language. He not only secured his place as a leader in Korean modern art but also positioned himself within the global abstract movement. This monumental blue painting distills memory, cultural roots, and cosmic order. Kim painted the universe in dots and in doing so, became part of the universe itself.
In the vast and boundless blue, 19-VI-71 #206 flows like an ocean of stars, quietly extending beyond the canvas into a realm of serenity. Painted in 1971 by Korean abstract pioneer Kim Whanki, this monumental piece belongs to his celebrated All-over Dot Painting period (1970–1974) when the artist pushed the motif of the “dot” to its very limits, covering the entire surface with rhythmic constellations to evoke a meditative Zen-ness drawn from Eastern philosophy. These works stand as the zenith of Korean modern abstraction, embodying the purest and most transcendent ideals of art, and have dominated the artist’s top ten auction records without exception. The grand, immersive size of the single canvas, spanning over a hundred inches, the deep yet richly varied tonalities of blue, and the dynamic composition that flows toward the viewer make the work an enduring icon of twentieth-century abstract art on the global stage.
The canvas is composed of countless dots—glimmering like stars in the night sky, rippling like waves across water. To achieve this effect, Kim first brushed the surface of the cotton canvas with a layer of blue paint and then laid it horizontally. He blended oil paint with a generous amount of turpentine to dilute the texture of the oil, achieving clarity and lightness akin to ink. With a fine ink brush, he then thoughtfully applied each dot in a rhythm both meditative and precise.
The interplay of deep and airy blue creates an endless rhythm of nature, reminiscent of Vincent van Gogh’s swirling water surfaces reflecting shimmering stars—transcending the beauty of nature through expressive, sweeping brushstrokes. Kim achieves a comparable transcendence through stillness and the rhythmic application of dabs of paint.
Kim’s early dot painting What Form Shall We Meet Again (1970, Private collection), which won the Grand Prize at the 1st Korean Art Grand Prize Exhibition in 1970, marked the beginning of the All-over Dot Painting series. The title was drawn from a poem by his close friend, the Korean modern poet Kim Kwang-seop:
“Amongst so many stars up in the sky, a star is gazing down at me.
Amongst so many people down here, I gaze upon the star.
As night goes deeper, the star is lost in the light, and I get lost in the dark.
Such endearment, one me and one you; where, in what form, shall we meet again?”
Kim Kwang-seop, In the Evening, 1969
In this poetic dialogue between the painter and the poet, Kim Whanki demonstrates his inner universe: luminous and infinite. In 19-VI-71 #206, Kim delineated a square to frame each dot after painting it. The diluted paint seeps into the cotton canvas and spreads naturally, permeating like ink on paper. Each dot stands alone, as the smallest molecule composing everything in the universe, yet breathes in harmony with the others—distinct yet interconnected. Through countless hours of repetition and focus, the act of painting becomes a meditative process of spiritual reflection.
Kim Whanki grew up during the Japanese colonial period in Korea and studied art in Tokyo, as many of his Korean peers did, due to the lack of art education in Korea. He absorbed Cubist and Fauvist vocabularies while seeking ways to root his work in Korean culture. From 1956 to 1959, he lived in Paris, immersing himself in European abstraction and modernist thought, while weaving in Korean imagery—from celadon and moon jars to landscapes. These experiences laid the groundwork for his transformation, but the decisive turning point came in 1963 when he moved to New York.
At the heart of the global art scene, Kim engaged in dialogue with contemporary masters. He was introduced to Mark Rothko, an artist Kim greatly admired for his meditative fields of color, shaken by their spiritual intensity and the way his use of vast color could pierce human emotion. Kim was also moved by Barnett Newman’s solemn monochromes that evoked primal sublimity and confronted viewers with existence itself. These artists taught him that scale is a language: a massive canvas is not merely to be viewed, but to engulf the viewer entirely.
While inspired by these artists, Kim chose to build his universe from countless blue dots without edge, layered patiently to create an equally immersive experience. Unlike the overwhelming force of Abstract Expressionism in New York, Kim’s work leans toward Eastern contemplation, placing the individual within an infinite ocean of stars, evoking both grandeur and poetic serenity, and transforming Western sublimity into an Eastern cosmology.
The color blue lies at the heart of Kim’s language. It embodies nature, memory, and home—a deep emotional connection to the sky and sea of Korea. “The sky in our homeland Korea is intensely blue... not only the sky, but the East Sea is just as clear and blue, as if the seawater could stain a white towel blue” (K. Whanki, quoted in P. Mee-jung, Whanki: A Pioneer of Korean Modern Art, Whanki Museum, Seoul, 2017, p. 90). For Kim, painting became a way to return to that distant landscape—a quiet conversation with his homeland from across the ocean. Each dot seems to pulse with longing, transforming remembrance into form. Within his cosmos of blue, one feels the energy of the East Sea and the hush of Seoul’s night sky.
In his final years, Kim Whanki wove Eastern stillness with Western abstraction through blue dots, forging a new artistic language. He not only secured his place as a leader in Korean modern art but also positioned himself within the global abstract movement. This monumental blue painting distills memory, cultural roots, and cosmic order. Kim painted the universe in dots and in doing so, became part of the universe itself.