Realist Master Kang Yo-bae Paints the Flowing Landscapes of a Troubled World

At 74, Jeju painter Kang Yo-bae has produced an unexpected new work from the images of war. His acrylic painting “Sunflowers: Kursk” grew out of a single night of brushwork at his studio beside Geumseongcheon in Hallim, Jeju, in January last year.

Kursk is presented as a land of life, where sunflowers grow across rich black soil. It has also become a battlefield that repeatedly shook world history. German and Soviet forces fought the largest tank battle in history there during World War II. In recent years, the region has seen drone warfare between Russia and Ukraine, with North Korean troops taking part.

Kang said he drew strong inspiration from television news footage showing a Ukrainian attack drone locating a North Korean soldier in the snowy Kursk landscape shortly before detonating. On the white field of the painting, dark blue-black forms emerge from branches like fruit, resembling unknown living creatures. Yet the strokes can also be read as traces left by deadly drones killing North Korean soldiers. Kang does not reject that interpretation.

The work holds life and death, peace and violence, in the same image. Its restrained, elegant strokes recall literary painting and abstraction, while suggesting the depth of a painter whose technique has developed across a wide range. Kang said, “A true painting must ask the artist, ‘Who am I?’ and also ask the viewer, ‘Who are you?’ The Kursk work is a painting about life, but it has become a painting that asks many questions about existence.”

Kang continues to read the Book of Changes while working from his studio, where he can see Hallasan and the sea. His recent exhibition, “Small Joy, Delight,” opened at Hakgojae Gallery in Seoul on the 12th of last month and features 28 works. They include large paintings shaped by Jeju’s wind and sea, small pieces depicting trees, birds and cats around his studio, and an image of a deep-sea anglerfish with its mouth open and a light glowing from its tentacles. The exhibition runs through the 12th.

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A true painting must ask the artist, ‘Who am I?’ and also ask the viewer, ‘Who are you?’ The Kursk work is a painting about life, but it has become a painting that asks many questions about existence.