SeMA Nam Seoul Living Arts Museum presents the Kim Chong Hak Collection, A Key to Creation. Kim Chong Hak is one of the most important artists of the Korean art world. For many years, he has been collecting traditional Korean wooden furniture, stone figures, agricultural tools, and folk craft. The collection is imbued with his extraordinary artistic vision and deserves attention for both its formal value and modern aesthetics that is uniquely his own, as well as for its manifestation of a living craft constructed by everyday people.

To Kim Chong Hak, in addition to being a playful act collecting is an important vehicle in the expansion of his artistic vision. His collection is significant in that it becomes a key to his creation that reverberates in his oeuvre. Especially, allowing it to develop into his own works, the artist has found a contemporary sensibility in the proportion and color of the crafts constructed freely and used by everyday people.

Kim Chong Hak Collection, A Key to Creation features the artist’s works and various collections to be appreciated together. Rather than its significance as an antique object, each collection is presented in a way that effectively conveys the formal values that the artist has observed.

This exhibition will broaden our understanding of Kim Chong Hak’s works. Furthermore, it will provide a rare opportunity to rediscover the contemporary value of traditional living crafts.