KIM Tae-ho

Regarding the process, he first draws interwoven lines. He creates a fixed rhythm, and after building up twenty layers of paint, he then scrapes away the dense accumulation of paint. Color that is hidden beneath rhythmically comes alive within the structure. Countless visual spaces are constructed within the overlapping grid formation; each cell is comparable to a beehive, producing its own life in the realm of painting. The concept of Kim’s work is both constructing and de-constructing. The repeated grid formation acts as the framework, determining thickness, but there are densely massed circular forms within the structure. He states: “the process of eliminating emphasizes the structure”; his method of scraping and carving away meticulously laid out paint is paradoxical because numerous layers of color are built up. Partial scraping brings buried colors back to life. The contrast between breathing colors within the solid outer structure creates a mysterious sense of life. The representative duality that originates from his early period has been transferred and transformed. After examining these works, we see that they reveal his method to be more meaningful because of his method of representation.
Kim has also made his process include the painting of the basic background color; this reveals his meticulous approach. The method of applying twenty different layers of paint in itself is painstaking labor. Further, more work is added through the process of scraping and refining. Evidently, it is just as difficult to create the layers of paint as scraping them away. The process would be futile if subtle rhythm were not created through the process of scraping paint away or the addition of mysterious shimmer in the process of making color. Moreover, the expression would appear boring, were it not for the densely drawn small rooms harmonizing like a choir. Finally, the artist’s interior psyche adds the finishing touch through a living rhythm. Without this, the works would be no more than simple masses. Japanese art critic Zibashikeo remarks that Kim “is a painter who attains something from beyond the two-dimensional surface of the material,” but what is that “something”? Perhaps he foresees a process that surpasses those that operate on what is visual. Since “aspects of texture and vision, time and space become integrated before dispersing again to form new meanings,”  Kim deviates from the common grammar of paint making; his recent works are a fundamental challenge to painting itself as we consider whether limits can exist in painting.

Excerpt from <Formation and Structure: Kim Tae-ho’s Art> in Kim Tae-ho’s catalogue in 2006
Oh Kwang Su
Former Director
The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

KIM Tae-Ho
Born in 1948, Busan, Korea

EDUCATION
1984 Graduate School of Education, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea
1972 Painting Department, College of Fine Arts, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITION
2015 Solo Exhibition-Kim TaeHo, Operating Space Structure, Busan Museum of Art, Busan, Korea
2014 Solo Exhibition, Gallery Rho, Seoul, Korea
2007 Solo Exhibition, Sungkok Museum, Seoul, Korea
2002 Solo Exhibition, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1997 Solo Exhibition, Johyun Gallery, Busan, Korea
1996 Solo Exhibition, Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1995 Solo Exhibition, Won Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1991 Solo Exhibition, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea
1985 Solo Exhibition, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea
1984 Solo Exhibition, Fine Arts Center, Seoul Korea

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION
2016 Sky A&C Atelier Story Exhibition, Seoul Arts Center-Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
2015 Beyond Materiality, Pursuing the Realm of Vacancy-Eye and Mind of Korean Contemporary Art 1, Gana Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2014 KIAF 2014, COEX Hall B-Rho Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2013 Samtan Art Mine Museum Opening Memorial Exhibition, CAM Art Museum, Gangwon-do, Korea
2012 Dansaekhwa: Korean Monochrome Painting, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea
2011 The 26th Asian International Art Exhibition, Seoul Arts Center-Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
2008 Korean Abstract Art 1958-2008, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2003 Seoul Art Exhibition, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2002 The Understanding of Abstract Painting, Sungkok Museum, Seoul, Korea
2000 Plane as Spirits, Busan Museum of Art, Busan, Korea