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Kim Song-gun (Korean: 김성근; born 1945) is a North Korean painter. He works at the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang.

Life

Kim was born in 1945. He initially worked as a blacksmith for 3 years. After his military service, he started working for the Mansudae in 1971, and studied at Pyongyang University of Fine Arts from 1972 to 1975.

Work

Kim Song-gun is also called "Painter of the Waves" since he mostly paints sea and river sceneries with thunderous waters. Despite a very realistic depiction the paintings carry a subtle kind of modern abstraction achieved through the dramatic presentation of the waves. One of those paintings, Waves of the Sea Kumgang, was noticed internationally due to a photo from Bill Clinton's state visit to North Korea in 2009 showing him sitting next to Kim Jong-il with the large green waves painting in the background.

Awards

• 1999: People's Prize for Waves of the Sea Kumgang

Notes

1. "김성근". cybernknet.
2. Ruthe, Ingeborg. "My image of the Week (Mein Bild der Woche)". Berliner Zeitung. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
3. "Bill Clinton's North Korea Rescue Mission". TIME Magazine. 5 August 2009. Archived from the original on 8 August 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
4. "KIM Song Gun". galerie son. Retrieved 7 October 2015.

External links

• Ingeborg Ruthe: "Mein Bild Der Woche: Parabeln auf Nordkoreanisch", Berliner Zeitung, 28 August 2012 (in German)
• "Hae Kumgang" and exhibition report on artdaily.org
• Why Dictators Love Kitch?

• 1945 births
• Living people
• North Korean painters
• Contemporary painters
• Postmodern artists
• People from Pyongyang
• 20th-century North Korean male artists
• 20th-century North Korean artists
• 21st-century North Korean male artists