The path was
always already there
A single word held across a lifetime of painting — THE PATH.The trace of where we have walked, and the direction we still face.
One subject, held —
the road named THE PATH
Kim Dong-seok is a mid-career Korean painter who graduated from the Department of Western Painting at Chugye University for the Arts, and went on to complete a master's degree in art education at Dongguk University's Graduate School of Education — his thesis a study of the work of the master ink painter Goam Lee Ungno.
Across his career he has held 31 solo exhibitions — in Seoul, Suncheon, Busan, Wonju, Gumi, Beijing, and Los Angeles — and participated in 41 domestic and international art fairs from Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Cheongju, and Gwangju to Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York, Denmark, and Singapore, alongside more than 610 group exhibitions.
His lifelong subject is a single word: THE PATH — the road. He has published three painting collections around it: A Collection of Kim Dong Seok Paintings (Solgwahak, 2019), The Path… It Was Everywhere (ChaiDEU, 2017), and THE PATH (ChaiDEU, 2017). The path he paints is not a single destination but a trace — where one has walked, and the direction one still faces.
He has served as an adjunct professor at Sahmyook University, Chugye University for the Arts, Baekseok Arts University, Chonnam National University, and Dongguk University, and has held office as secretary-general and Songpa branch head of the Korean Fine Arts Association and as president of the Songpa Artists' Association. He has also served as standing steering chair of the Hanseong Baekje Art Grand Prize and on the judging and steering committees of numerous open art competitions.
His work is held by the MMCA Art Bank, the Whanki Museum, the Jeonnam Museum of Art, the Yangpyeong Art Museum, the Korean Buddhist Art Museum, the Muksan Art Museum, Seoul Asan Medical Center, SK Telecom headquarters, the French presidential residence, Sunchon National University, Chugye University for the Arts, and the Songpa-gu Office, among others. His paintings have also been included in a high-school art textbook (Kyohak Books). He works today as a full-time artist and is a member of ADAGP (the international authors' rights society), the Korean Fine Arts Association, and the Songpa Artists' Association.
Major themes
- 1
THE PATH as subject
A single word — the road — held as a lifelong subject. Not a destination, but the trace of where one has walked.
- 2
A journey across borders
31 solo exhibitions and 41 art fairs across Korea, China, the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia — a practice that travels.
- 3
Educator and organizer
Adjunct professor at five universities and an officer of the Korean Fine Arts Association — a practice rooted in teaching and community.
The artist's record
- 31Solo exhibitions — Seoul, Suncheon, Busan, Wonju, Gumi, Beijing, Los Angeles.
- 41Art fairs at home and abroad — Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, LA, New York, Denmark, Singapore.
- 610+Group exhibitions.
- 2017Painting collections 〈The Path… It Was Everywhere〉 and 〈THE PATH〉 published (ChaiDEU).
- 2019Painting collection 〈A Collection of Kim Dong Seok Paintings〉 published (Solgwahak).
- M.Ed.Master's in art education, Dongguk University — thesis on the work of Goam Lee Ungno.
Selected collections & roles
- Public collections: MMCA Art Bank, Whanki Museum, Jeonnam Museum of Art, Yangpyeong Art Museum, Muksan Art Museum.
- Other collections: Korean Buddhist Art Museum, Seoul Asan Medical Center, SK Telecom HQ, the French presidential residence, Sunchon National University, Songpa-gu Office.
- Work included in a high-school art textbook (Kyohak Books).
- Former adjunct professor at Sahmyook, Chugye, Baekseok Arts, Chonnam National, and Dongguk universities.
- Former secretary-general and Songpa branch head of the Korean Fine Arts Association; former president of the Songpa Artists’ Association.
Three essays —
on the road and its keeping
1One word, held for a lifetime — THE PATH as subject
Many painters move from subject to subject across a career. Kim Dong-seok has kept one. The road — THE PATH — has been his consistent subject, the single word around which his practice has organized itself. The titles of his three painting collections say as much: THE PATH, The Path… It Was Everywhere, and the survey volume A Collection of Kim Dong Seok Paintings.
The phrase “it was everywhere” matters. The path he paints is not a destination set ahead, nor a single named place. It is the road that was always already there — under the feet of whoever walked, in whatever direction. To keep this as a subject for a lifetime is itself a kind of discipline: to look again and again at the most ordinary thing, the ground we cross, until it yields its weight.
2A practice that travels — 31 solos, 41 fairs
If the subject is the road, the career has matched it. Across 31 solo exhibitions — from Seoul and Suncheon to Beijing and Los Angeles — and 41 art fairs reaching Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York, Denmark, and Singapore, Kim's work has itself traveled the routes it depicts.
More than 610 group exhibitions sit alongside that record. The sheer count is not the point; the point is what it describes — a practice sustained not in a single studio but in motion, carrying one subject across borders and back. The road, painted, is also the road walked.
3Where the work rests — collections, teaching, community
Kim's paintings are held across a wide range of institutions: the MMCA Art Bank, the Whanki Museum, the Jeonnam Museum of Art, the Yangpyeong Art Museum, the Muksan Art Museum, alongside the Korean Buddhist Art Museum, Seoul Asan Medical Center, SK Telecom headquarters, the French presidential residence, Sunchon National University, and the Songpa-gu Office. His work has also entered a high-school art textbook.
That breadth is matched by a life in teaching and organizing — adjunct professorships at five universities, offices held within the Korean Fine Arts Association and the Songpa Artists' Association, and service on the committees of open art competitions. The painter of the road has also kept the paths others walk: students, peers, the institutions that hold a community together. It is this same instinct — care for those who come alongside — that brings him to this campaign as a fellow artist in solidarity.
One word, held for a lifetime; one road, walked across borders and brought back to the canvas. Kim Dong-seok joins this campaign not as a subject of its cause but as a fellow artist in solidarity — so that the path might stay open for the artists who come after.
Selected Works
2 works are featured here.
Kim Dong-seok joined this campaign in solidarity with fellow artists. Every work sold flows directly into the artists' mutual-aid loan fund— a purchase becomes the next month's lifeline for an artist navigating financial exclusion today.
