Seongsan Art Hall

Kim Chong Yung, Self-Portrait Sculpture (80-5A), 1980, bronze, 46 × 25 × 8 cm
Kim Chong Yung, 79-4, 1979, paint on wood, 125 × 46 × 36 cm
Kim Chong Yung, Female nudity (裸像), 53-2, 1950, diasec, 40 × 80 cm
Kim Chong Yung, Female figurine, 1950, diasec, 35 × 80 cm
Kim Chong Yung, Madonna, 1954, diasec, 40 × 60 cm
Kim Chong Yung, Twilight, 1957, diasec, 40 × 60 cm
Kim Chong Yung, Pohang War Memorial Hakdo Chonghon Pagoda, 1956, diasec, 50 × 72 cm
KIM CHONG YUNG MUSEUM collection

Self-Portrait Sculpture (80-5A) is the last of three “self-awareness” statues that Kim Kim Chong Yung ever sculpted during his lifetime. Kim’s self-awareness statues are not preoccupied with depicting faces, but rather seem closer to resolutions in which the artist affirms his identity and projects his will for the future by abstracting its form. Self-Portrait Sculpture(80-5A), for example, creates a dramatic contrast between the vertically straight wood grain and the asymmetry of the figure leaning slightly to the right.

As a sculptor who has long explored the world of abstract sculpture with the attitude of a true seeker, Kim continues to search for the driving force of life in the natural world. His work 79-4 showcases his attempt to reach the essence of form by connecting the basic shape of a circle to evoke the body of a person. This colorful sculpture, consisting of three circles stacked on top of each other, shows the boldness of the artist’s mission. Having thus experienced the principles of structure and transformation of space across various natural phenomena, Kim’s tourist focus is less on what is created and more in how, exactly, they came to pass.

Female nudity (裸像), 53-2 was entered into and honored by an international sculpture competition held as part of “the Unknown Political Prisoner”, which in turn was held at the Tate Gallery in London from March 14 to April 30, 1953. The original work has since been destroyed, and only images of the drawing remain. At the time, Kim was asked, “Is the woman a political prisoner, or a woman thinking about political prisoners?” “My coverage of the woman’s naked body is just a means of expression. If I am fortunate enough to maintain my mental faculties, this is what I would like to offer to all anxious political prisoners.” Through this answer, Kim Chong Yung sidesteps directly addressing the issue, seeking instead to express the anxiety of the political prisoner through the melancholic image of the woman.

Dating back to the late 1950s, Female Figurine was exhibited at the 8th National Exhibition in 1960. Now lost, the sculpture is shown in this exhibition as a photograph. Through this and his other sculptures of the human body, we might speculate on what Kim was reaching for with his stone and clay; certainly, we can say that he pursued a combination of sentimentality and simplicity of form.

Created in 1954, Madonna was exhibited at The 1st Holy Mother’s Anniversary Exhibition of Sacred Art, held at Midopa Department Store Gallery. At the time, Kim Chong Yung was studying Western contemporary human sculpture through the medium of drawing. This work is a “semi-abstract” attempt to integrate the trajectory of such sculpture in the West, illustrating an intermediate step between the human form and full abstraction.

Twilight, produced in 1957, was Kim’s entry to the 6th National Exhibition in 1957. While making the piece out of clay, Kim finished it by applying the clay entirely by hand. He then used a metal spatula to chisel and clean up the work. Because this original work has also been lost, it is presented in this exhibition as a photograph. Kim’s clay works are characterized by his finishing techniques and a stronger sense of emotion overall, but this particular work is notable in that it marks his use of a new method: carving with a chisel.