Artwork: Kim Taek Sang, As It Is…, exhibition view, Seoul, 2026
South Korean artist Kim Taek Sang’s solo exhibition at Johyun Gallery in Seoul, titled As It Is…, showcases his ongoing fascination with the properties of water. In the studio, he lays the canvases flat, pours water with a small amount of pigment onto it, and allows the water to evaporate, for the pigment to settle, before pouring more water on the canvas, building the painting in layers. Kim equates the process to how the nacre of an abalone shell forms; its colour and texture is laid down in layers over time. Similarly, his canvases acquire their colour gradations through the layering process, with the key element of time playing the role of allowing the painting to emerge. Having grown up in the countryside, Kim witnessed how seasonal change influenced what emerged in nature, whether flowers, food, the weather, all was influenced by the conditions of those seasons within specific months of the year. The seasons therefore have played their role in his work, the most current paintings exploring winter, the Ice Blossom series, where Kim allowed the water on the canvas to freeze forming crystallized patterns shaped by pigment, and then to unfreeze leaving the shapes embedded as part of the layers of the painting.
Artwork: Kim Taek Sang’s studio, Seoul, 2026
Kim said this about the centrality of water and colour in his art: "What fascinated me was the luminous color of water—that sense of clarity and depth that water can hold at the same time. I worked tirelessly to bring that quality onto the canvas and went through countless experiments, but I could never quite achieve it. Then, at a certain point, I had a realization. Water itself is colorless. It appears to us as blue, green, emerald, or countless other colors, constantly shifting depending on its relationship with the surrounding environment. That led me to wonder whether, rather than trying to control the process as the artist, I could instead create the conditions in which such relationships could arise. I put that thought into practice immediately. Once I created a setting in which natural elements—water, sunlight, wind, gravity, and time—could do their own work, the luminous color of water I had been seeking finally began to emerge."
The exhibition As It Is… is showing until November 8, 2026.