(1929- )
Kim Tschang-Yeul is born in 1929, in Maing-San, a small village in North Korea. At the time the country is under Japanese occupation. In 1933 his paternal grandfather, a renowned calligrapher, teaches him calligraphy. In 1942, Kim enters
the high school in Pyong-Yang. He copies several paintings and begins to paint from life. In 1946 Kim decides to leave to the South. In 1947, he frequents a drawing studio where he makes charcoal drawings. In 1949 Kim enters Seoul Na-
tional University where he studies art history and oil painting. From 1950 to 1953, the war leaves deep traces, he express them in his first informal canvases, by a series of monochrome points and lines. In 1954 he becomes the director of
the police officer’s library.
In 1955-1956, He begins a career as an art teacher in high schools in Seouland the surrounding area. At the same time, he works as an assistant in the studio of Li Bong-Sang and meets others artists. This circle of friends results in an in-
formal movement that takes shape in the Hyundai Association (The Association of Korean Contemporary Artists). In Korean “Hyundai” means “contemporary”. In 1957 – 1960, successive exhibitions of the Hyundai Association contribute to
making the presence of contemporary art in South Korea felt. In 1961 Kim writes the second manifest of the Association. And he exhibits his work in the Paris Biennale. In 1962, the military regime puts pressure on the art world and the
Hyundai association is forced to change its name, becoming the “Actuel Group”. In 1963, Kim presents his abstract work in his first solo exhibition at the Seoul Press Center. In 1965 – 1969, he leaves for New York supported by the Rocke-
feller Foundation. In 1970, Kim sets up his studio in Paris (Palaiseau). Drops of liquid and shapes like light bulbs begin to appear in canvases entitled Procession in the early 1970s. Kim takes part in several more and less major exhibitions.
To render the reality of drops of water, the artist uses an airbrush to print patterns on ties. Faced with these creations, the critics were enthusiastic. In 1973, Kim is awarded first prize at the 12th Biennale in Sao Paulo. This distinction gives
the artist’s name great international value and he travels around the world.
After having learned calligraphy with his paternal grandfather, Kim entered the Seoul National University where he studied art history and oil painting. After his education, he started as an art teacher in Seoul and then, integrated the Hyundai
Association. “Hyundai” means “contemporary” in Korean, and the aim of the association was to create an audience for contemporary art. Between 1965 and 1969, Kim lived and worked in New-York City, supported by the Rockefeller
Foundation. He moved to Paris in 1969 where he participated in several major exhibitions. In 1973, Kim was awarded First Prize at the 12th Biennale in Sao Paulo. Now, he works and lives between Paris and Seoul, and his works are often
exposed all over the world. Considered as a major artist in Korea, Kim has acquired, throughout the world, a strong reputation. His particularity lies in the fact that Kim chooses to paint a recurrent formal pattern: a dewdrop, realised as a
trompe-l’oeil. The dewdrop is like an obsession, a leitmotiv, a recurrence. Kim gives us – him-self – the visual key to recognize all his works. Since the early 1980s, he is mixing calligraphy and dewdrop. This technique gives to his painting a
new depth, and a new meaning.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2013 India Art Fair, New Delhi, India
2013 Art Show Busan, Busan, Korea
2013 , Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
2013 Art Elysée, Paris France
2012 Blank, Speak to Untold, Park Ryu Sook Gallery, Seoul
2011 Qi is Full, Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, Korea
2011 Korean Avant Garde Drawing Soma Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2011 Beginning the New era, The National Museum of contemporary Art, Séoul, Korea
2011 Korean Contemporary Art Show, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2011 Poem of Indian Ink, Guimet Museum of Asian Art, Paris France
2011 L’art à la Page, Saint-Tropez, Gallery Enrico Navarra, Paris, France
2011 Made in France, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
2011 Working with Nature, Tate Gallery, Liverpool, Great Britain
2008 Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
2006 PYO BEIJING, Pékin, China
2005 The National Museum of China Invitation Exhibition, Pékin, China
2005 Gallery BHAK, Seoul, South Korea
2004 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
2004 Galerie National du Jeu de paume, Paris, France
2002 Galerie BHAK, Seoul, South Korea
2000 Gallery Hyundai / Galeroe BHAK, Seoul, South Korea
1999 Andrew Shire Gallery, LA, USA
1999 Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris, France
1999 Galerie BHAK, Seoul, South Korea
1999 Gallery Kongkan, Pusan, South Korea
1998 Gallery MMG, Tokyo, Japan
1998 Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1998 Sakamoto Zenzo Museum of Art, Kumamoto, Japan
1997 Galerie BHAK / Gallery Hyundai, Seoul
1997 Draguignan Museum, Draguignan, France
1997 Aqua Museum 104 £ Inaugural Commemoration
1997 Exhibition Shimane, Japan
1997 Atrium Gallery, Ulsan, South Korea
1996 Taipei Art Fair 1996 International ; Galerie Enrico Navarra-Paris, Taipei
Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris, France
1995 Mural Painting Installation, Fukuoka City public Library , Fukuoka, Japan
1995 Gallery Kongkan, Pusan, South Korea
1994 Sonjae Museum of Contemporary Art, Kyoung – Ju, South Korea
1994 Kongkan Gallery, Pusan, South Korea
1993 SAGA, Matsumura Graphics-Tykyo, Paris, France
1993 The National Museum of Comtemporary Art, South Korea
1993 Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris, France
1991 Sigma Gallery, New York, USA
1991 Staempfli Gallery, New York, USA
1991 Inkong Gallery, Daegu, South Korea
1991 Kongkan Gallery, Pusan, South Korea
1990 Gallery Hyundai; Seoul, South Korea
1989 Kasahara Gallery, Osaka, Japan
1989 Suzukawa Gallery, Hiroshima, Japan
1989 Chicago International Art Exposition, Gallery Hyundai, Chicago, USA
1989 Los Angeles International Art Fair, Gallery Hyundai, LA, USA
1989 Andrew-Shire Gallery, LA, USA
1989 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
1989 Staempfli Gallery, New York, USA
1988 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
1988 Tykyo Gallery, Tykyo, Japan
1988 Seibu Contemporary Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1987 Naviglio Gallery, Milan, Italy
1987 Gallery Moos, Toronto, Canada
1987 Staempfli Gallery, new York, USA
1987 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
1985 FIAC, Staempfli Gallery ; New York, USA
1984 Arts Fair of Basel, Switzerland, Staempfli Gallery, New York, USA
1984 Staempfli Gallery, New York, USA
1984 Suzukawa Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan
1984 Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo; Japan
1984 Steampfli Gallery, Odzka, Japan
1984 Kasahara Gallery, Osaka, Japan
1984 Verannemamn Foundation, Kruishoutem, Belgium
1984 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
1984 Takagi Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
1981 Gallery Moos, Toronto, Canada
1981 FIAC, Staempfli Gallery, Paris, France
1981 Staempfli Gallery, New York, USA
1979 Moos Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1979 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
1979 Staempfli Gallery, New York, USA
1979 FIAC, Staempfli Gallery, New York, USA
1978 Staempfli Gallery, New York, USA
1978 Gallery Takagi, Nagoya, Japan
1978 Ankrum Gallery, LA, USA
1978 Naviglio Gallery, Milan
1977 Antwerp gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
1976 Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan-hyundai Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
1976 Kaneko Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1976 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
1976 Myung-Dong Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
1975 INKO Arts,( Galerie Sprick, Bochum), Dusseldorf, Germany
1975 Galerie November, Berlin, ouest Germany
1975 Kunst Hause, Hambourg, Ouest Germany
1975 Abbaye Saint-Michel de Frigolet, France
1974 Galerie Sprick, Bochum, Germany
1974 Galerie Jasa, München, Germany
1974 Valerie Engelberts, Geneva, Suisse
1974 IKI Art Fair, (Galerie Sprick, Bochum), Dusseldorf, Germany
1973 Knoll International, Paris, France
1973 Galerie Tho, Avignon, France
1973 Press Center, Seoul, South Korea
Public Collections
The national Museum of Contemporary Art, South Korea
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
Aqua Museum 104~ , Shimane, Japan
Foundation Veranneman, Gent, Belgium
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Bochum Museum Art Collection, Bochum, Germany
Saitama Modern Art Museum, Saitama, Japan
Sunkyung Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Kyongju, South Korea
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, USA
Ohara Museum, Ohara, Japan
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada
Iwaki City Museum of Art, Takamatsu, Japan
Museum of Oriental Art, Cologne, Germany
Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Takamatsu, Japan
Museum Texas Tech University, Lubbock, USA