THE LAST FLAME
Kyong L. Kim, Ph.D.
In every painting I begin, I strive to understand the soul of whomever I am painting. As the German philosopher Martin Heidegger said, we human beings are thrown out into this world. The famous physicist Albert Einstein also said that we came to this planet without invitation. So, it is natural that we are curious about other people. I tend to draw or paint their faces in a traditional portrait style because of this natural curiosity. The famous Korean Buddist monk, Bupjeong, said that the face is the shape of a soul. I wanted to look into those people’s different shapes of soul. The portraits, I hope, represent what I saw in terms of their faces, their actions, etc. These painting comprise the first half of my collection.
The second portion of my collection is a gathering of individuals that intrigued me. These are not people I have met, nor are they from my imagination. I took their images from newspapers, films, YouTube, TV, etc. These were accidental encounters, but their activities are attractive. As accidental visitors to this earth, they are doing something interesting. This is why I chose to paint them.
My works displayed in this exhibition were made during my retirement years from May 2007 to October 2020. While working on these works, my soul was burning. On October 14, 2020, I suddenly had a stroke, which brought the end to my productive life. I am grateful that the department of Art and Design arranged this exhibition. This exhibition represents the last flame of my life. I will certainly turn into ash. But I hope that my artwork will remain.
Kyong L. Kim, Ph.D.