Long Way

In this work Kim mixed blue pigment with dilute ink to create a "bleeding," or spreading, effect. The two characters are written in sweeping cursive script, an abbreviated form of calligraphy that matured between about 400 and 200 bce as a shorthand for personal notes and letters. The cursive script then developed as a mode of individual expression that sometimes even transcended the contents of the text. In this scroll the artist gives an elusive, dreamlike dimension to the characters "long way" with the accidental bleeding of the ink.

Sun Wuk Kim's lifetime goal has been to modernize the art of calligraphy. As a student of master Cheolnong Yi Gi-woo, who carved the seals of two former presidents of Korea, Kim has explored new calligraphic territory by interweaving traditional and innovative means of expression.