Page 10 - 김남표 개인전 2023. 5. 10 – 5. 30 나마갤러리

could attract his attention at all. It is because art itself was what mattered most to the artist.

What is art, by the way? Countlessly many people have asked this question and provided thousands of answers. Nonetheless, art is something that cannot
be defined. Why? It is because art is revealed through a never-ending history. As soon as art detects any attempt of being defined, art immediately presents
an agenda that escapes from the intended definition. Throughout the history of art, every discussion of representation would entail paintings that depict the
expression. When the discussion of expression was completed, paintings regarding emotions appeared. Every time there were discussions about emotions,
formalist paintings showed up. Even before starting the discussion about what forms are all about, they started the discussion about the systems. By the time
the discussion about forms were about to be completed, the argument of pluralism was in full swing. As a result, the theory of indefinability of art would be one
of the debatable issues.

Providence does exist even in the history of the manifestation of art. Art is not free from providence following the principle of the natural cycle of “birth-growth-
harvest-finishing.” In particular, painting is a product of history and systems in the sense that an artist’s form must be officially recognized by the conversation
shared with artists from the previous generation. However, contemporary painting has lost even the condition that an artist must be recognized through the
process of conversations and negotiations with artists from the previous generation. In addition, in the middle of the flood of media and information, artists
undergo confusion. They acquired freedom as the conditions had disappeared, but they are lost without knowing where to head for, and confused about a
correct direction.

Kim Nampyo bravely jumped out from the world guaranteed by the splendor and solidness of academy to the literally rough field. The characteristics of
his painting world can be summarized as one word “place.” Many words are synonyms of “place.” For example, we can find words such as “site,” “scene,” and
“field.” However, when it comes to an on-site location, what is meaningful to Kim Nampyo is a location as “a place,” not as “a site,” “a scene” or “a field.” The word
“site” stems from Latin “situs,” which simply means a partial position. The term “scene” originates from ancient Greek “skēnē,” referring to a tent made of fabric
connected between trees. The word “field” comes from ancient German “feld,” which is an artificial (cultural) concept dealing with cutting and cultivating forest
trees to make pastureland or meadows. On the other hand, “place” is based on Latin “platea” meaning “open space.” A place without any artificial interventions
is the very artistic stage of Kim Nampyo. The infinitely open space is a source of energy that helps overcome nihility. According to the artist’s contemplation,
painting that vividly highlights an infinitely open space on the canvas is the only way to have a dialogue with the history from the previous generation, and it is
the minimum way of displaying proprieties to be recognized by the artists from the previous generation.

As mentioned earlier, modernism is the secularization of metaphysics. Modernism deals only with the comprehensible realm. It addresses the range that can
be perceived and thought only by rationality On the contrary, in East Asia, we can find a concept called “Śūnyatā.” It is translated as “devoidness,” “emptiness,”
“hollow,” “hollowness,” and “voidness.” It signifies “voidness” or “emptiness.” There is an immense difference between the meaning “emptiness” and “nothingness”
or “nihility.” The mother's womb is empty. However, it is full of life energy. Likewise, even though the valley is empty, it is able to make echoes ring in all directions
to generate birth of all things. For this reason, the god of the valley never dies. 2) Since Śūnyatā is empty and hollow, it is full instead. This is called “empty
fullness.” We have all enjoyed this empty fullness. We still remember the moonlit nights we experienced in our childhood. The moonlit nights in our childhood
were not about something we had seen, but about fullness or plenitude we had felt with every fiber of our body. Yes, the little child’s heart was jumping along
the shadow of the forest fluttering in the wind, and joy gently came over the little child at the sound of the brook swaying the moonlight. Thus, the little child
naturally realized that all the members of the world are interconnected. Living in the holistic connection of the world, there was no place left for worries, hatred
and resentment. Only the excitement of the moonlit night and the joy of seeing the moonlight again the following night overflew. However, as time passed by,
we no longer feel the world with every fiber of our body but calculate it with our head. The empty fullness dissolved and the fragments of memory scattered
deep in the brain.

2) Laozi, Chapter 3, 『老子』 6章: “谷神不死. 是謂玄牡. 玄牡之門, 是謂天地之根. 緜緜呵若存, 用之不勤.”

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