GARDENBLUE “Walking in Woonjoong Garden”

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 A blue cat is waiting for you in a corner of the blue garden full of blue flowers and leaves.

 Here is the eighth special exhibition of Woonjoong Gallery, which opened in late fall of 2020. The invited artist for this exhibition is Kim Sunhyoung, who has continued to create sophisticated and sensuous works while communicating with the spirit of traditional Korean painting with his modern aesthetic. Kim's works are all covered in blue. The artist's blue comes from the artist's own experience of long observing the beauty of the dim blue landscape that appears shortly before and after dawn and sunset.

 The beauty of the blue color captured in the artist's eyes has led him to a consistent work with GARDENBLUE as a title for over 10 years. A beautiful garden covered in blue is both the subject of his work and a microcosm of the world he lives in and observes. The blue world seeps into the artist's abyss, oscillates in the artist's heart, and is condensed into the artist's fingertips, which again create his own blue world on a Hanji (traditional Korean paper) canvas through the tip of a brush immersed in blue water. The blue world he expresses is the result of his observing nature and objects, but at the same time, it is the utopia he desires as a garden in his mind that goes beyond his eyes. In his blue garden, reality and unreality intersect, so his works show both visualization and abstractness.

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  The Artist Kim Sunhyoung's works are in many ways in touch with the spirit of traditional Korean painting. Among Hanji paper, brush and the traditional ink(먹물), which are the main materials for traditional Korean painting, the artist substitutes blue pigment for the ink, but uses Hanji and brush as it is. The accidental effect of ink permeating on Hanji is also expressed in his work using blue pigment, conveying emotion with a richer depth. If you have experience in grasping the beauty of the blank space that the brush did not reach in traditional Korean painting, you can feel the same beauty in the Artist Kim Sunhyoung's work.

 It is similar to the technique of traditional Korean painting in that the artist leaves traces of brush strokes without any correction or overcoating on the lines passed by the brush, as the artist mainly expresses it with one brush stroke. The traces of his brushstrokes are gathered in blue lines to create his blue garden. The Blue and White Porcelain (청화백자) made by a ceramic artist in the midJoseon Dynasty painted with blue pigment on pure white porcelain is unfolded flat through his work. The seemingly indifferent brushstrokes on the Blue and White Porcelain have transcended hundreds of years and permeated his Hanji canvases. In this era in which we live, the artist Kim Sunhyoung has revived the beauty of the Blue and White Porcelain in his own way.

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 Various new works by Kim Sunhyoung will be presented for the first time in this exhibition. 3 largescale works of vibrant garden landscapes, 6 series of still-life screens, 15 still-life paintings of various sizes, 20 pieces of square flower petals and flower gardens, and 18 adorable cat still-life works will be on display. In our Korean art world, which is strongly influenced by Western art in many ways, it is rare and difficult to express contemporary beauty while maintaining the spirit and techniques of the traditional Korean painting. Clear and rustic, but at the same time supremely modern and so stylish and sensual. In early summer full of blue flowers and blue leaves, you can enjoy a relaxing walking at Woonjoong Gallery. Kim Sunhyoung's GARDENBLUE “Walking in Woonjoong Garden” gives comfort and impression as if time slows down in a beautiful garden full of blue to those who live in a fast-paced era. As you take a walk in Woonjoong Garden, a blue cat may pop out of the artwork to greet you. You can also look forward to the experience of making friends with the blue cats you meet while walking in Woonjoong Garden.