SUN AND CLOUDS

A pioneer in the field of Korean modernism, Kim Whanki was one of the first 20th century Korean artists to combine traditional motifs with Western modes of abstraction. While living and working abroad in Tokyo, Paris and New York, Kim grappled with the question of how to imbue his creations with a distinctive Korean spirit, while incorporating the principles shared by his modernist contemporaries. His bright paintings thus schematize images and motifs found in the ceramics, woodwork, and ink paintings native to his homeland, rendering objects and landscapes in symbolic forms that echo shapes painted by Klee and Miro. Above all, Kim sought to achieve a closeness to nature in his work, saying, "Art is not an aesthetic, philosophic or literary theory. It just exists like sky, mountain and stone.”
In the 1960s and 70s, when Kim was living in New York City, he moved away from a semi-figurative style, towards a purer style of abstraction inspired by natural forms. His painting Sun and Clouds (Lot 472) provides a simplified visualization of the sun, the sky and the earth, using simple primary colours to convey the fundamental unity of the disparate elements. Sand mixed into the oil paint gives the work additional texture and dimension, while the soft blue ground recalls the colour of a clear sea or sky. Mountains and Moon (Lot 473) also features heavenly themes, utilizing an abstract system of lines, dots, and seal-like roundels to create a diagrammatic composition of orbs floating over a landscape. The dots and lines that appear in this painting are a common motif in Kim's later works, inviting comparisons to islands and stars, topographical boundaries and water. Quietly meditative, yet vibrant in colour and composition, these works not only showcase Kim's unique ability to capture the basic essence of natural forms, but also convey the artist's longing for the mountains, sun and sky of his native Korean homeland.