“Rise, Respect, Embrace” — The Variations of a Local Artist’s Ethos
Creatrip Team
a month ago
A touring exhibition, “Kim Jin-yeol Archive: Rise, Respect, Embrace,” opens next month at Chiak Art Center (July 1–4) and then at the Kim Dal-jin Art Archive Museum (July 13–Aug 14). The show presents some 60 paintings and sculptures alongside about 70 archival items such as photos, notebooks, interviews and exhibition materials, tracing the life and work of Kangneung-born, Wonju-based artist Kim Jin-yeol. Curators shift focus from earlier labels like “people,” “form,” and “regionalism” to read his practice through ecological relationships between humans and nature, labor and daily life, and material memory. The exhibition title riffs on the teachings of Wonju life activist Muuidang (무위당) Jang Il-soon — “crawl, serve, join” — reframed here as rise (resilience), respect (for people, nature and life), and embrace (bringing discarded materials and marginalized people into relational networks). Kim’s rough techniques of cutting, tearing and layering deliberately distance his work from polished modernism to expose the scars of the era. After moving to Wonju in 1986, his work was influenced by local life philosophies and cooperative movements; recurring figures at the Wonju intercity bus terminal evoke those left behind by rapid industrialization yet sustaining dignified lives. Kim has taught and led at local universities, worked across painting, drawing and installation, and received the 2nd Park Soo-keun Art Prize in 2017. An opening on July 1 at 5 PM will be preceded at 3 PM by a roundtable with the artist and critic Park Young-taek. (muuidang: honorific nickname of Jang Il-soon, a Wonju life activist)
