In 1976, Kim Tschang-Yeul’s first solo exhibition in Seoul was without a parallel at its time, and completely charmed its audience. The general exclamations were 'Such an unusual droplet!' and 'How can one create a water drop so close to reality!'. For myself, I have had a similar experience when I visited Atelier de France. The way he painted the water drop on one side of the door of an apartment was also quite unforgettable.

The droplets are so real that it makes you want to touch them. Although they are not real water drops, they are not painted like they would exist in real life. The droplets that are painted on the canvas are a form of fixed ideas, which are vague memories that are being conveyed to us. In that meaning, Kim Tschang-Yeul’s water drops are from a humanitarian origin. But this illusion has no connection with illusionism.

As far as I know, He has never painted the droplets on the canvas from the start. Usually, his production process begins from a temporarily prepared paper of the same size of the canvas. This process is a mere esquisse, and soon it will soon move onto a procedure of making holes through the paper. Depending on the esquisse, the whole conception of the piece may change and be decided upon. However, after Kim Tschang-Yeul puts on the [esquisse=pattern] onto the blank canvas and begins placing the water drop precisely onto his piece, it's hard to determine whether what he is drawing is really a water drop. His work does not solely consist of making a call of condolences for a particular illusion, but rather the opposite. He strives to create an independent subject completely free from all illusions. And from this point, Kim Tschang-Yeul resolves his dilemma of the water drop illusion.

To say it short, one gets a sense that Kim Tschang-Yeul’s work is being restricted by the water drops. It’s true of the saying [These are not water drops]. The subjects possess the space within the canvas, as they seem like they will flow down imminently (which they sometimes do), but sometimes stay perfectly still. There seems to be no restriction of space in Kim Tschang-Yeul’s paintings. However what does manifest within the paintings are [nothingness=nonexistence of space]. Once the transparent dead matters land on the paintings and luster upon the painting, they place a shadow of phosphorescence. Full of realism, these objects transmutate the [nothingness=nonexistence of space] to a point where they bring a marvelously fresh point of view of experience. So to speak, such viewing experience holds Shin-bon-gi-in property. The image of the water drops drawn onto the screen does not stop at being a simple object we view upon with a certain distance, but an illusion where we ourselves are driven towards the painting. 

Once could say that Kim Tschang-Yeul’s work is so powerful and enchanting it possess a magnetic-like property that resides in every corners of the screen. Such attractive properties brings balance to the high degree of tension between the flat surface and the image. Despite the work’s modernism, I gaze at the droplets and I see a [Ball] within each one. Leaving his homeland and settling down in France, I know that Kim Tschang-Yeul pursues a life of deep religious ideologies. However this has nothing to do with the latter. As I come to think of it, one could consider that this artist is drawing an infinity of [Ball]s through the water drops...