KIM Whanki’s “All-Over Dot Paintings”
[Duet 22-Ⅳ-74 #331]
The sun has come out. I complete the dots by nightfall.
#331 178 × 127cm Prussian Blue + Blue Black
KIM Whanki, April 22, 1974
Duet 22-Ⅳ-74 #331 (hereinafter referred to as “Duet”),), which Kim Whanki produced in April 1974, was made by filling in the picture-plane with dots of Prussian Blue and Blue Black, leaving some line of empty margins.Spaces made by leaving borders between fields filled with dots, so that the margins appear as lines, divide the whole picture-plane horizontally, vertically and diagonally. The empty lines suggest the images of two trees and two people standing, reminiscent of the meaning of the artwork title “Duet.”
The empty lines left intentionally by the artist are merely spaces that were formed naturally between the colored dots; however, their effect on the picture-plane is powerful. They also remind one of the elegant yet simple lines he used to paint mountains and the moon, the sea, trees, birds and jars, which were some of his favorite subject matter over the years. Duet demonstrates how order in the picture-plane, intentionally provided by the artist, can reach a high level of harmony and lead spectators to a feeling of bliss as they find themselves in “Muwijayeon (nature as it is).”
Jason Kim had joined forces to digitally express this Whanki’s artwork, using LG OLED as their canvas.
"The special thing about OLED was that it was able to express the most complex and perfect color on it." - Jason Kim-
