Kim Geun-jung | MetaCanvas Gallery

Kim Geun-jung graduated from the Department of Oriental Painting at Hongik University and from the Graduate School of Arts at Chinese Culture University in Taiwan, and is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Painting at Gachon University College of Arts. Kim’s paintings are hard to define in a word, because the work moves across the boundary between figuration and abstraction. The late 1980s, when Kim began working vigorously after returning from studies in Taiwan, coincided with discussions of postmodernism. During this time Kim took part in exhibitions including “Seoul Contemporary Korean Painting” (Seoul Museum of Art, 1989), “Young Perspectives: Proposals for Tomorrow” (Seoul Arts Center, 1990) and “Contemporary Korean Painting” (Hoam Gallery, 1991), and was included in the 1996 “Art Vivant” series published by Sigongsa, standing shoulder to shoulder with artists who left a mark on Korean art history such as Lee Kang-so, Koo Bohnchang and Park Seok-won. Having continued fresco work on minimal surfaces that brought out matiere, from around 2017 Kim began to show a monochrome tendency that reveals the rough materiality of stone powder. A pearl-toned primary color is common to each work, which Kim says is to break away from the look of antique, time-worn colors. The image of a weathered wall evoked by the matiere effect, combined with primary colors mixed with pearl, creates a distinctive effect that can be called the artist’s own.

Biography

Graduate School of Arts, Chinese Culture University, Taiwan; BFA, Department of Oriental Painting, College of Fine Arts, Hongik University
Currently Professor Emeritus, Department of Painting, College of Arts, Gachon University

Solo exhibitions

2022 Existence, Doll Gallery, Seoul
2022 Encounter with Existence, Samjeong Gallery, Busan
2021 Kim Geun-jung: NATURAL BEING, Gallery WE, Yongin
2020 NATURAL BEING, Artbeat Gallery, Seoul
2017 Kim Geun-jung, Kim Se-jung Museum of Art, Seoul, and others

Group exhibitions

2020 Flowers, Flowers, Flowers, Seoul Botanic Park, Magok Cultural Hall, Seoul
2019 Jeju, Painting Asia, World Heritage Center, Jeju
2019 15c Iron-painted NOW, Ku Art Center, Daejeon
2018 2.2.2 Exhibition, Mary Tomas Gallery, Dallas, USA
2017 Landscapes of Korea: Dokdo and Ulleungdo, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, and others