Cover image of Kim Taek Sang: Architectonics of Light, and Color © Suryusanbang

Works by the master of Dansaekhwa, Kim Taek Sang, have taken on a new form through a distinctive editorial collaboration, resulting in the publication of a new volume.

Published by Suryusanbang as the fourth installment of its Azukkari Notebook series, Kim Taek Sang: Architectonics of Light, and Color is authored by Kim Taek Sang, art critic Hong Ga Yi, and art historian Wonsik Kim.

Regarded as a leading painter renewing the tradition of Dansaekhwa, Kim Taek Sang is considered an artist who seeks a more transparent aesthetic consciousness beyond established Dansaekhwa discourse through his works and distinctive methodology.

The book introduces works presented in the artist’s solo exhibition 《Between Color and Light》 held last January at Leeahn Gallery in Seoul.

Unlike a conventional publication, however, it attempts an “architecturalization of art” by guiding readers through how the works were installed throughout the building. Each painting is accompanied by architectural drawings indicating precisely where it was viewed within the exhibition space. Through commentary by architectural historian Wonsik Kim, readers gain a clearer understanding of the appeal of Dansaekhwa as it changes according to spatial context. Critic Hong Ga Yi interprets Kim Taek Sang’s work by drawing connections across time and culture, referencing Newtonian and Einsteinian science as well as Eastern philosophy such as the I Ching.

The members of Suryusanbang describe their own roles in the publication as “producing” (director Park Sang-il) and “annotation writing” (editor Shim Sejung).

Regarding this book—both a monograph on Kim Taek Sang and a long-term project of Suryusanbang—they describe it as a story of long waiting: an unseen landscape formed as the unseen human mind trembles and gradually layers upon itself.

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