[Gallery Walk] Blazing Green Energy 'Saeng! Myeong! Ryeok!'

Kumho Art Museum Kim Bohee Solo Exhibition 'Towards'... 17 Masterpieces and 36 Unreleased Works Revealed
Grand Work 'The Days' Presented Again After 6 Years... Capturing a Fantastic Landscape Where Day and Night Coexist

Kim Bohee 'The Days', 2011-2014, Color on canvas, 390×1458 cm (27 pieces, 130x162 cm each)

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749?1832), a German Romantic writer, wrote "Theory of Colors" in 1810. He recommended using green for wallpaper, living room interiors, and especially bedroom decoration, believing that green calms the mind.

The third-floor exhibition hall of Kumho Museum of Art in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, is filled with the energy conveyed by green. The artwork filling two walls of the exhibition hall in an 'L' shape is Kim Bo-hee’s "The Days." It is full of the overwhelming energy of green. The huge canvas, measuring 14.58m wide and 3.9m high, is filled with fresh leaves in various shades of green. Green symbolizes life. The painting itself seems to breathe. Perhaps those who are tired and weary can gain new vitality in front of this painting.

Painter Kim attached 27 canvases of size 100 (1.3m × 1.62m) in a grid of 9 horizontally and 3 vertically. He painted it over four years (2011?2014). "The Days" decorated the lobby of the Seoul branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art during the "Garden" exhibition commemorating its first anniversary in October 2014. Since then, it was only shown once at the Kim Chang-ryeol Museum in Jeju in 2018. It has reappeared in Seoul after nearly six years.

Kumho Museum of Art Kim Bo-hee Solo Exhibition 'Towards' Interior View of the 3rd Floor Exhibition Hall - Photo by Kumho Museum of Art

Kumho Museum of Art is holding the exhibition "Towards," filling all seven exhibition halls with Kim Bo-hee’s works until the 12th of next month. It features 36 previously unseen works, 2 drawings, and 17 representative works including "The Days."

Kim received special selections at the 30th National Art Exhibition in 1981, and at the 1st and 2nd Korea Art Exhibitions in 1982 and 1983, respectively, as well as the 2nd Woljeon Art Award in 1992. In the 1980s, he worked on relatively diverse subjects such as figures, still lifes, and landscapes. Since around 1990, he has been presenting more solid works based on natural materials.

Kumho Museum of Art explained that Kim Bo-hee has expanded the horizon of figurative landscape painting by harmoniously composing realistically detailed subjects and imaginative abstract backgrounds on a single canvas.

"The Days" expresses vitality by meticulously painting green leaves, while the background depicts a fantastic landscape where day and night coexist. On the far left of the painting, a bright and clear blue sea of daytime spreads out. However, on the right, a crescent moon floats amid deep blue darkness. There are also a parrot, a turtle, and a monkey. Kim said, "God created humans on the sixth day of creation, but after humans appeared, sin arose and nature became dirty. So, instead of humans, I put a monkey in the painting."

"The Terrace," located in the first-floor exhibition hall, is also a large work measuring 5.20m wide and 3.24m high. It connects eight canvases. Painted last year and unveiled for the first time in this exhibition, it depicts the garden landscape of Kim’s house in Jeju.

Kumho Museum of Art Kim Bo-hee Solo Exhibition 'Towards' 1st Floor Exhibition Hall View [Photo by Kumho Museum of Art]

Kim has been living and working in Jeju since 2005. He lectures in Seoul during weekdays and goes down to Jeju on weekends to work. Since retiring from his professorship at Ewha Womans University in 2017, he has been more devoted to painting in Jeju.

Kim said, "The amount of work has definitely increased," adding, "It feels like a day passes faster here than in Seoul." Among the works in this exhibition, 33 pieces are new works created last year and this year.

The outdoor exhibition space on the third floor is filled with a series of sea landscape paintings. Centered on the horizon line, the blue sea and sky above and below give an abstract-like impression. The second-floor exhibition hall is filled with paintings depicting the landscape of Jungmun, Jeju, where Kim takes daily walks.

The underground exhibition hall displays the seed series. Among them, a work titled "Self-Portrait" draws attention. "I sometimes go to Yeomiji Botanical Garden in Jungmun. The flowers had fallen, and the curled shapes looked like hair, which was beautiful. I was upset about aging and wrinkles, but I realized that aging can also be beautiful. So I called it a self-portrait."

Kim Bohee 'Self Portrait', 2019, Color on canvas, 162x130cm
[Photo by Kumho Museum of Art]

Exhibition view of the 2nd floor inner gallery of Kumho Museum of Art Kim Bo-hee solo exhibition 'Towards' [Photo by Kumho Museum of Art]

View of the exhibition hall inside the basement level 1 for Kim Bohee's solo exhibition 'Towards' at Kumho Museum of Art
Photo by Kumho Museum of Art

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.