The painter has left, but the exhibition will open as scheduled…Pen painter Kim Young-taek dies

Painter Kim Young-taek at the time when he published a series of’pen drawing travel’ in this magazine in the early 2000s. [사진 중앙포토]

Painter Kim Young-taek, a pen artist who has restored Korean architectural cultural assets with a 0.05mm pen, passed away on the afternoon of the 13th due to a chronic illness. 76 years old.

Painter Kim left a remarkable achievement in restoring Korean traditional buildings into pen paintings through historical testimony after self-studying pen drawings that originated in the West. A week before the opening of the last solo exhibition, which concludes 30 years of painting, he closes his eyes and makes people feel more sad.

Painter Kim was born in Incheon in 1945 and graduated from Hongik University College of Fine Arts and completed a master’s degree in business administration at Soongsil University. After starting his career as an industrial designer, he was recognized to the extent that he received the title of’Design Ambassador’ given by the International Trademark Center to world-class graphic designers in 1993.

Painter Kim Young-taek, who stood in front of the works in the exhibition hall during his lifetime. He called himself “architectural writer.” [사진 중앙포토]

Although he succeeded as a designer, he began drawing pen drawings at the age of fifty after encountering a pen drawing detailing Western-style architecture at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France in 1994. Pen drawing is a work of grinding the pen tip with sandpaper to make 0.05mm and 0.03mm thick and then drawing a line between 500,000 and 800,000 times on drawing paper. Starting with the pen drawing, he traveled the country and began to express Korean cultural assets in a Korean style. In addition to reproducing the current appearance, he devoted himself to reviving the lost or lost parts by searching through the historical materials.

Painter Kim usually introduced himself as a “architectural artist,” and said, “My role is to restore and draw damaged cultural assets.” With this belief, including the 1910s view of Sungnyemun, which was burned down in a fire, Yangsan Tongdosa and Haeinsa Iljumun, Gwanghwamun, Miryang Yeongnamru, Gyeongju Hwangryongsa 9th floor wooden pagoda, etc. Since 2001, he began serializing’Pen Painting Travel’ in this magazine, and was serialized for 10 years until 2012 except for the time when he stopped working due to shoulder pain. In addition, he worked hard to revitalize pen paintings, such as serving as the chairman of the Korean Pen Drawing Association.

A restoration drawing of the 9-story wooden pagoda at Hwangnyongsa Temple, drawn by painter Kim Young-taek with reference to Kim Dong-hyun’s restoration design and historical records. [사진 김영택 ]

Sungnyemun Gate and the surrounding landscape restored and painted by artist Kim Young-taek. [사진 김영택]

Changdeokgung’s Juhapru, reproduced by painter Kim Young-taek with a pen drawing. [사진 중앙포토]

Painter Kim is also famous for developing a new technique called’Kim Young-taek’. This is a method of emphasizing the proportion and impact felt by directly looking at the subject with the naked eye. He once said, “Human eyes look at things that are far away while looking at parts,” he said, and “we focused on expressing a sense of reality by making use of the elaborate and aesthetics of the painting.” He devoted himself to revitalizing pen paintings, including serving as the chairman of the Korea Pen Drawing Association.

Hwabaek Kim held a solo exhibition in May 2019, and in an interview with Bonji, he told the fact that he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He said, “I was diagnosed with late colon cancer (stage 4) three months ago. I am receiving chemotherapy,” he said. He added, “The moments of immersion in’Ecstasy’ that I experienced while drawing pen drawings, life itself with pen drawings was a blessing to me.”

‘Kim Young-taek Penhwajeon’, an exhibition of the deceased who has been prepared during chemotherapy, will open on the 20th as scheduled at the Insa Art Center in Seoul and will be held until the 15th of next month. In this exhibition, organized by the Ghana Cultural Foundation (Chairman Kim Hyeong-guk) and sponsored by the Cultural Heritage National Trust (Chairman Kim Jong-gyu), about 40 original pen drawings of the deceased, such as’Restoration of Cheonggyecheon Supyo Bridge’,’Jongmyo Jeongjeon’ and’Mont Saint-Michel’ in Normandy, will be revealed.

The bereaved are his wife Jong-ran Lee, his sons Han-yeol Kim (CEO of Hana Sign Mall) and Joon-Bum Kim (Phil Korea). The mortuary was the Cheonggi and funeral hall in Incheon, and the birth was on the morning of the 15th.

Eunjoo Lee, Senior Reporter of Culture [email protected]