- Title
- Munmunjaja guemganggyeong geu seojeok byeonsang (Words Originating within Words: A Calligraphic Abstract of the Diamond Sutra)
- Culture
- Korean
- Date Made
- Post 1945, 2014
- Medium
- Ink, paper
- Dimensions
- 84 5/8 × 59 1/16 × 1 9/16 in. (215 × 150 × 4 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2020.46.2
- Collecting Area
- Chinese and Korean Art
- Curatorial Notes
For decades, Kim Jongweon practiced traditional ink calligraphy. Then, seeking new forms, he posed the question: What is the origin of the letter? Inspired by the Korean adage beopgochangsin, which means to create afresh from older traditions, Kim’s curiosity led him to contemplate the divinity and spirituality not only of the letter itself but its lineage and history. The title of this ink painting refers to a lush, growing forest, but the word munja, extracted from the first word of the title, means “letter.” The work was inspired by what Kim visualized after reading the Diamond Sutra, one of the most sacred texts of Mahayana Buddhism, a sect popular in Korea. Dating to 868, the Diamond Sutra was discovered in 1900 in the Cave of the Thousand Buddhas at Dunhuang, along the Silk Road in the Gobi Desert. For Kim Jongweon, the application of individual calligraphic brushstrokes embodies a kind of meditative performance. “Contemporary society,” he explains, “is over-rationalized to the point where spiritual power has disappeared. In this society, I believe seohwa [calligraphy] is an art that can rehabilitate the deep meaning of that power.”
2019/2024
Virginia