Kim Ku lim

 Kim Kulim, known as Korea’s first avant-garde artist, has worked in film, light, performance, and land art, often stretching the limits of a given medium. Primarily self-taught, he moved to New York after he dropped out of college and became involved with the Art Students League of New York, participating in a number of group exhibitions. Back in Korea, he held his first solo exhibition in 1958 at Daegu Information Center, and soon expanded his artistic practice beyond painting. In the 1960s Kim began to emphasize the materiality of painting in a radical way. For his artistic “deconstructions” he often used burned plastics, vinyl, and metal bits alongside oil paint. He incorporated ready-made objects in his painted canvases, created installation art, and staged performances. He played a leading part in several artist collectives (Painting 68, A.G. Group, The Fourth Group) and brought many firsts to the Korean art world. He filmed Korea’s first experimental movies Munmyeong, Yeoja, Don (Civilization, Woman, Money, 1969); and 1/24 (Cho) ui Uimi (The Meaning of 1/24 Second, 1969), staged the nation’s first body painting performance, initiated the first Korean mail art Maeseu Midieo ui Yumul (The Relics of Mass Media, 1969), and was responsible for Korea’s first examples of land art Chujeog e Hyeonsang Eseo (From Phenomenon to Traces, 1970).  

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 1960년대 이후 현재까지 이어지는 끊임없는 실험 정신과 넓은 스펙트럼의 결과물들은, 자칫 안일함에 빠질 수 있었던 한국 미술계에 신선한 자극이 되어 왔다. '끊임없이 새로운 것'을 추구하며 비주류의 삶을 겁없이 걸어온 그의 삶은, 주류와 트렌드만 쫓는 동시대 미술의 예술과 작가들에게, 자신의 현주소를 뒤돌아보게 만드는 촉매제로써 부족함이 없다고 평가받는다.