Kim Mi Sook, a Korean Literary painting artist, is making waves in the global art scene through her thought-provoking murals. The artist, who has successfully held seven solo exhibitions so far, is stepping foot in Chennai for the first time to showcase her artworks from her collection, ‘The Flowers Say Summer’. Speaking about how she ventured into literary painting, she says, “I started calligraphy in 1988. I felt that I’m not expressing my emotions in calligraphy, and plunged into literary painting. I’ve held a painting brush for many years, because a touch of a brush onto Chinese drawing paper opens up such a beautiful world for me where peonies, lotus flowers, magnolias bloom along with singing birds.”
Kim Mi Sook
A literary painter works in creating murals, representing the essence of objects by focusing more on spiritual aspects of things and the dignity of the painter rather than the physical appearance of an object. Explaining more about literary painting she shares, “I felt that I was observing only the surface of things that people can see, while neglecting things that cannot be seen. That’s when I felt ashamed. Painting gave me a chance to reflect on my own life.”
For Kim, seeing a lotus bloom would be an inspiration for her to work. “I look at how the lotus blooms and start sketching. I will bring home the sketch and think about how to express the original shape of the lotus. And I move my thoughts to Chinese drawing paper. I always want to grow with pictures,” she quips.
The artist has been inspired by our mythological Bhagavad Gita and yoga and that reflects on her paintings “I did my best in my life, my work and always wanted to get good results. I was disappointed and distressed when I did not get the result at a point of time. But after reading Bhagavad Gita, I enjoyed the process of working and refreshed. As I gained spiritual comfort through yoga improve my physical health started improving too. I wish to find a balance between body and soul.”
Kim will be exhibiting 8 paintings and 33 fan works in Chennai. She has a word of advice to budding literary painters. “Literary painting begins with the promised form. Younger artists may be bored with the art form. But, adding modern sensibility to the traditional form will result in great works,” she concludes.
