May – a Walkway by Nature

Gwang-Myoung Kim
(A Professor in Philosophy of Art at SOONGSIL University)

Strolling along a road, we look back over the path we have come and shape the way to live in the future. But for our contemporaries living in the post-industrial society in which uncertainty and riskiness have been rampant and speediness and competition have been virtues, it seems almost impossible to make time to saunter like that. Nevertheless, we hope to take a stroll, looking around where we are and being free from obsession with speed and competition. A stroll was usually regarded as incident, but nowadays it has been familiar to us and has been in the central part of our lives with a variety of trails with various names such as DULLE and OLLE, including wooded paths. Art is like a trace of human life, and make us reflect on our lives and change them. In ‘A Promenade as Pilgrimage’ I, the critic, once commented on the esthetic contemplation of stones, grass, flowers and trees found by the artist Myung Sook Kim during a stroll. And, it appears that the exhibition to be held in May in GANA Art Space is an extension of the foregoing esthetic contemplation. At this, I reviewed my previous comment and have supplemented it in terms of profundity and significance.

For a natural object found in a course of life may be materialized into a work of art by a combination of esthetic imagination and artistic will. In this regard, some art historians mentioned that a work is more influenced by a visible form than invisible will. However, the visible part, a form, and the invisible one, will, are indivisible relation. A work of art is an esthetic object expressed by an artist’s individuality and subjectivity, but the artist can win the public sympathy and make a reflective expression only when touching the common emotion of those days, and also it can move viewers. Following the way to her esthetic contemplation, we face her fundamental introspection about her art.

A promenade that we are walking, whereon we can find the traces of our lives and chisel in on the talk with many materials ? trees, flowers, birds, sea, clouds, sunlight, rampart, stone piles on the beach and fishing boats out over the sea. We know that a stroll historically exerted great influence upon the setup of many schools of philosophy. As is well-known, the Aristotelian school is called the peripatetic school, which was originated from the peripatos (a promenade) where Aristotle (384?322 B.C.) walked (‘peripatein’ in Greek) and discussed with his disciples. Martin Heidegger (1889?1976), a philosopher of ontological art, left for the way to truth in ‘The Wooded Path.’ On the path, we can find the traces of a thinker’s torment and deliberation. Like Heidegger wanted to be addressed by Mother Earth in which works of art took root and listen to the respiration of existence and find its source, she looks through materials found on a promenade into human existence and asks about the essential meaning of human life.

May – Promenade

at the studio.. Kim Myung-Sook

Plants that I do not know the name of stand out in the path
I walk on.
The rocks that roll about in a nonchalant and friendly
manner.
Spring, May, it is great.
The frigid air in the winter and the dark gray city on a frozen
land makes one think that trees will never bud again, but it
soon scurries away.
Flowers bloom such as forsythia and cherry blossoms.
My neighborhood has many gingko trees.
The small, children’s finger-like gingko leaves have now become
fresh under the spring breeze.
My heart melts with the blue colors, scent of grass, and the
peaceful fresh spring greens.
I really like blue. It puts my heart at rest.
I wanted to express a blue hope.
Whenever I painted a leaf, I added more color to give depth
to colors.
I brushed again and again to paint the texture that expresses
the depth of the rocks. It is filled with all my thoughts about
the world.
Because of my wish to make a friendly, yet impressive, work,
I paint for many hours, but sometimes am found disappointed.
But, I am very happy when I work on my paintings filled with
passion.
I am elated when I work on my pieces with the hope that it
will be a moving piece of art if I continue to work hard.
I paint today again to make a better piece of art.
When we walk along a path, there are a great many rocks
that are just spread about.
The texture of a sturdy rock. Rocks that become strong with wind and rain are also left with traces of times. They are weathered by rain and wind and begin to have a unique shape with its own depth.
Rocks on the old sidewalks are noticeable.
In a place between rocks where there seems that there is not even a bit of dirt, they grow by surviving the harsh winds and rain and is becoming majestic, fresh, and a bit small.
Though it looks weak, the blue life that rises between rocks is amazing and gives a solemn feeling.
May – I wished to express an angle in which a rainy day, clear scents of grass and green leaves between rocks are in harmony.
Each and every blade of grass is cute and friendly.
I smile at the memory of playing house with my friends using
grass.
I visited fields and mountains because I liked fresh spring greens so that I could sketch them.
Sometimes I want to see my childhood friends.
The different names of the leaves and grass are interesting.
Thick brushes that grow above the stone wall – The strong and rough rocks block the wind and the weak and cute leaves create a picturesque view.
I really love nature – Sometimes I become exhausted with life in the city. But, while I walk along a path and see fresh grass growing filled with life between rocks, even if I do not know the name of these vegetations, I feel a new sense of energy. I wonder how they withstood the harsh winter and grow so well. I am appreciative and feel energized from their strong force of life.
I love spring and May.
It is fun walking along a path and looking at the grass and fresh spring greens.
Rolling rocks, the fresh greens and blues of May, the scent of grass, and the fresh spring plants along mountains and rocks that lay at peace. I love these things.