State museum showing film of Kim that reveals art master's agony, sorrow until Nov. 1, coinciding with retrospective.
A cinematic essay on Korean art master Kim Tschang-yeul, known for painting waterdrops, is being screened at the Seoul branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, starting Friday. “The Man Who Paints Water Drops” film coincides with the museum’s “Kim Tschang-yeul” exhibition.
The 79-minute film, released in 2021 as the first such documentary on Kim, explores the depth of the late artist’s solitude and seeks to reveal why he immersed himself into painting waterdrops after enduring the turmoil of postcolonial liberation and 1950-53 Korean War, during which he narrowly escaped death when a bullet passed right under his ear.
Based on the artist’s personal narrative, the film was directed by Oan Kim, the artist’s second son, in collaboration with French artist and documentary filmmaker Brigitte Bouillot. The documentary won the Silver Horn Award at the Krakow Film Festival and the emerging director award at the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival in 2021.
The state museum is running the first retrospective of the artist, “Kim Tschang-yeul,” after the death of the artist, which opened in August and runs through Dec. 21 in Seoul. The exhibition sheds light on Kim’s artistic journey, revealing his artistic practices that had been little known to the public from the post-Korean War to New York. Kim died in 2021 at the age of 91.
Reservations through the museum’s website are recommended to watch the film, which plays from Friday through Nov. 1 at the MMCA Film & Video space in the exhibition building. The theater accommodates 120 people — 90 seats by reservation with another 30 on the spot — offering 12 time slots.
yunapark@heraldcorp.com
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