Professional Printmaker
Kim
Seungyeon
about Me
김승연 金承淵
Kim Seungyeon’s work is romantic while revealing the beauty of print by artistically exposing images of the city that are forgotten in the dark. Modern art is becoming excessively metaphysical, and while separating the common people from forms of high art it has long forgotten the subject of landscapes. Landscapes, whether the fruit of Romanticism or a manner belonging to Impressionism, are being reinterpreted through the work of Kim Seungyeon.
“몇 차례의 판화전을 통해 극사실 기법에 의한 팝적 이미지를 추구해 온 김승연에게는 무엇보다 동질성에 대한 문제가 끈임없이 그를 괴롭힐 것 같다. 그리고 이 문제는 앞으로도 계속 작용할 것으로 보인다.”
art critique
Kim Seung Yeon's work is romantic while revealing the beauty of print by artistically exposing images of the city that are forgotten in the dark. Modern art is becoming excessively metaphysical, and while separating the common people from forms of high art it has long forgotten the subject of landscapes. Landscapes, whether the fruit of Romanticism or a manner belonging to Impressionism, are being reinterpreted through the work of Kim Seung Yeon.
Reproduction of Reality
from Foreword by Art critic Lee Young Woo,
Through the technique of extreme realism, the mezzotint works of Kim Seung Yeon transpose a familiar, ideal subject into a uniquely different subject. The detailed, realistic expression of his works do not merely bring daily life into relief but rather peel away the outer layer of daily life. His works are created through traditional technique yet acquire a fresh originality that goes beyond the borders of tradition. His night landscapes and cityscapes are not urban landscapes of daily life, but reveal odd truths about realistic situations that are seemingly lost in the moments of daily life. For this reason in his works we are made to discover in a new way the glowing existence of objects that are washed away with time.
In the Silence, a Glowing Cityscape
excerpt of writing by Art critic Im Du Bin,
Kim Seung Yeon's work is romantic while revealing the beauty of print by artistically exposing images of the city that are forgotten in the dark. Modern art is becoming excessively metaphysical, and while separating the common people from forms of high art it has long forgotten the subject of landscapes. Landscapes, whether the fruit of Romanticism or a manner belonging to Impressionism, are being reinterpreted through the work of Kim Seung Yeon.
Evaporated People and Urban Anonymity
excerpt of writing by Art critic, Yoon Jin Seob, ,
The prints of Kim Seung Yeon convey the existence and affairs of people in a most concise way, through light that emerges in the dark. He draws landscapes of an enlarged perspective using light, that have a visual and formative interest. In his piece "Ginja Nightscape" he refers to adjoining: "In Tokyo at night the neon signs and illuminations are diverse and full of life, giving off the feeling of modern civilization. In Seoul the lights are uniform, rather pastoral, lyrical, or simple, one might say." With the opportunity of working with the Tokyo nightscape, Kim Seung Yeon was faced with a new aim, the "idea of drawing the city nightscape of cities around the world, like New York, Beijing, London, Paris, etc
Light Emerging in the Dark
by Isikawa Kenji, Japan Mainichi Daily,
Kim’s seemingly serene mezzotints are the result of an almost lost art of intaglio copper plate making. The resulting prints have some of the tonal value of graphite drawings, and captured the oblique fronts of city buildings with almost photographic precision. Indeed, the prints maybe more expressive than a photograph of the same subject would be, since the artist subtly contrasts perspectives and frames incongruous items and wayard shadows into his images entrancing the eye and adding interest to the otherwise rather repetitive building portraits.
Serene Prints, Metallic Puns
Art critic, Lei Isaacs, New York
This concentrated energy at the very surface of the print, draws the viewer to share in Celmin’s Painstaking act of reconstruction. Kim Seungyeon, likewise, looks back to these slow processes. Mezzotint, with its capacity to render rich deep dark tones becomes the chosen medium for Kim’s cityscapes of Seoul. While open use to evoke natural landscapes, mezzotint is less associated with rendering the modern city. These images go beyond mere topographical evidence as through the action of slowly burnishing the plate, proceeding from a starting point of pitch black, he literally illuminates the view, turning on the streetlights, and neon signs to reveal the city at night.
Concentrated Energy
Art critic, Paul Coldwell,London