Kim, Sang-Cheol / Art Critic, Editor

Expression of nature bearing fresh and creative life force in light green and forest green color is characteristic of the artist Kang Suk‒Jean’s works. He does not present a particular breath-taking scene or a famous sight but he grasps with his subtle sense simplicity and sentiment of mountains and fields we see every day. His scenes which include the fields spread out among mountains and the calmly flowing rivers between the fields, are our landscapes that bring sentiment in them. These mountains and rivers formed through intersections of naturally curved strokes seem to contain joys and sorrows of our lives. He does not decorate nature with small wits or exaggerates it through certain techniques. Only through his decent and sincere brush touch does he caress the mountains and fields in addition to embracing the air surrounding it. This is derived from the sincere expression and earnest approach of nature. Therefore, the nature he portrays is not something fictitious or embellished but rather the representation of freshness and purity in nature.

The works of this artist is in the form of a typical landscape painting, but through a couple of significant elements we can see that ge clearly expresses his own perspective andd feelings. There is a great amount of light green nature in his work. This is not just a fresh verdure that he sees through his eyes but a nature full of life symbolized with moist air. He does not take nature as an object to simply describe or revive. Nature can be acknowledged as the ultimate foundation of comprehending and expressing the atmosphere of life ina concrete shape. If we do an analogy of the vividness of the bright shiny sun to a male, the secluded sense of a dense fog can be said to be a female. On the subject of nature expressed as ‘Mother Earth’, the origin of all things, he takes a position on contemplation and observation by having a certain distance from objects, not against objects. It is not an active and arbitrary vision which the artist discreetly selects as nature, which becomes the object, but it is a different point of view where nature is expressed through his psyche that unites, interacts and assimilates with nature. Therefore, nature is not acknowledged as a mere object of expression in the material world but rather the ultimate substance that interrelates and harmonizes. This would be the reason for the artist’s specific efforts in expressing the aura of life in nature, in addition to the reflection of his view and perspective of nature. Although in a certain aspect the artwork is in the form of a Western landscape painting, we can say that when it comes to approaching and accepting the object, it casts a reflection of a unique interpretation and sensitivity that is based on oriental thoughts and speculations.

The artist’s canvas mainly shows our everyday mountains and rivers. The essence of human life in the mountains and fields with flowing water is the common and daily nature he favors. This will be the revelation of his utmost affection towards our mountains and streams. He is an artist who searches far and wide, roaming the farthest corners of the world for sceneries, but his unfailing love for our nature can be said to reflect andd reassure his childhood in his hometown, and the rich sensitivity arising from these experiences with nature back then bring back the dim sentiments that are becoming forgotten. Actually, his canvases exhibit something familiar rather than new, However, these familiar things strike us with a rather new and delicate emotion through our earnest affection towards them.

Another element that is shown in the artist’s canvas is the particular angle. The viewpoint is a little higher than the usual view as though looking over from above, borrowing the bird‒eye view, expanding the width and depth of the painting. this does not apply the usual perspective drawing methods, but it is a result gained by the artist’s will to manage space. Through this technique, the space on the canvas becomes even larger so it can not only draw the space behind the mountains, but even accommodate the scene that goes beyond the view to the right and left. Although this is shaped by rational analysis and spacing, in actuality, the artwork is a creation of psycholgical space. Managing space free from realistically describing or reproducing an object, and thus securing more secluded depth and width in space, result from the artist’s unique perspective of nature.

With respect to how ge establishes the relations in nature, his expression shifts. If keeping a fair distance with nature and describing and reincarnating it is a fundamental rule by a typical landscape painter, he explores the inner world through the unity of nature. His formative principal to express his inner world through the interaction and assimilation with nature is especially close to the concept of the oriental pantheism. This also has a thread of connection with the oriental landscape painting of understanding that nature is not a figure of opposition but recognition the ultimate object of unity. The artist’s characteristics of deep affections for the mountains and rivers, expressing the life of nature through the moist air that life breathes, creating phychological space that is meshed with nature, and broadening the view and depth through a bird‒eye view, etc., is in collusion with the concepts mentioned above. We can say that the reason he was able to maintain his own style of expression and peculiar value, regardless of the formality of landscape painting, would be the result due to the fact that these factors worked dynamically.

The artist’s work shows consistency in the honest approach to nature and sincerity of expressions. This can be referred to the truthful work method of the artist in trying to capture and express the energy of life within nature, rather than merely managing the exterior of nature. The artist would say that he approaches in his own way of accepting nature and grand figures and sympathizing with his whole body to assimilate with them. This does not rely on knowledge or techniques but occurs from his essence and purity. Its presence is not something to discuss in terms of superiority and inferiority but something based on the respect and positivity of a healthy value in which his work will be able to expand its territory beyond the boundaries of its specific contents.

Despite the artistic status and unique world of his own, Kang Suk‒Jean’s career is quite different from that of other artists. In reality, he is also well known as a successful management while he is known as an artist. His background as the CEO of GE‒Korea for twenty years managing the entire Korean business of General Electric, the most admired company of the world, and now professor of Sogang University and Ewha Woman’s University is being respected and mentioned by many businessmen.

“He is also well recognized poet being awarded grand prizes as poet four times from major Literary Associations in Korea. His poem book “On which planet star, can we meet again” included paintings of beautiful landscapes of mother natures which gave spiritual motivation to him for writing those poems. Therefore, his paintings and poems are spiritually linked and they are in his poem book together. His successful creative management of global businesses of GE can be explained as an integrated management art.” On the whole, it is almost impossible to build a professional art world whild the artist has another professional fields like management and teaching as professor. Nonetheless, Kang Suk‒Jean has jumped over such boundary and difficulties through his keen and consistent effort and development his own style of professional artist’s fields. This, of course, could be from his positive attitude in life and passion, but the only way all of this could be possible is by the spark of an artist he has possessed since birth. The spark, which had not been discovered for long period because of certain conditions and circumstances in life, became like fireworks when it was encountered in extremely insignificant and accidental terms. This was possibly something that was meant to happen before. However, this was possible because of accepting it not as a coincidence, but as an opportunity pursued with enthusiastic action and practice by an artist. Although it might appear to be difficult for a co‒existing view of life as a keen artist and a successful corporate manager, for Kang Suk-Jean as an artist these two different values and structures interact with each other by creating the energy of compatibility. He is the artist who contemplates nature and interacts and assimilates with it in his fairly good perspectives which has been built up through his innate sensibility, and also creates his own world of art by making valid his existence and its meaning on his canvas. Now, his title of a successful CEO would be a redundancy to the name of Kang Suk Jean as an Artist.