Kim Tschang-Yeul: Water Drops Exhibition: 4 March – 10 April 2021

Almine Rech London presents Water Drops, by the late Korean artist Kim Tschang-Yeul (1929-2021). The exhibition spans Kim’s distinguished career, providing a unique insight into Kim’s perception of the poetics of water. 

‘the material imagination of water is a special type of imagination.’ [1] If an element has universally been ascribed the high value of purity, it follows that it must be powerful. ‘It is not infinity which I find in waters but depth.’ [2] – Gaston Bachelard

Kim had a faithful connection with the aesthetic of water. After first studying in New York, Kim moved to France in 1972 where he started his work with water and water drops become the entire focus of his work.  A virtual tour of the inspiring exhibition is available on the link below.

Click here for Dr. Cleo Roberts’ virtual tour of the exhibition

“What Kim struck upon in these dewy drops was a confluence of philosophical tenets and personal resonance. It is not just that Kim’s portly orbs are moored to Taoist principles aligning water—an element which gives and expects nothing—with ‘supreme goodness.’ It is also in the process of depicting water that Kim draws on Eastern ideology. To achieve the translucent beads, which sit ripe on the canvas, ready to be swiped, demands the patience associated with Zen Buddhism.”