Kim Tschang-Yeul first began painting water drops in the early 1970s, after he moved to Paris from New York. For the artist, a practicing Taoist, water drops embody the Eastern philosophical idea of “full emptiness”, and reflect the human condition of being at once wonderful and ordinary, vulnerable and adaptable. By suspending time and gravity, Kim asks viewers to celebrate the briefness of water, as well as their own mortality. Kim began painting the Recurrence series in 1989, which features drops of water seemingly suspended on surfaces covered in Chinese characters. This series recalls Kim’s childhood devotion to calligraphy, and his memories of practicing characters from the popular children’s instructional manual, the Thousand Character Classic, onto newspapers until the whole sheet was covered with ink.

Kim Tschang-Yeul has official representation by Tina Kim Gallery since 2019.