Kim En Jong

Father Kim En Jong (Korean: 김인중;^[1] September 10, 1940) is a Korean Dominican priest and painter. He is currently living at Couvent de l'Annonciation de Paris.^[2]

Biography

Born in 1940 into a taoist family, he has seven brothers. The family moved to Daejeon when he was still a baby, and there he discovered colours in the prints of the Japanese who had just left Korea. From 1947 to 1959 he studied in this city until high school and began to practice calligraphy. At seventeen, he attended free drawing lessons in high school and in 1959 was admitted to the Seoul Institute of the Arts.

His studies were interrupted by military service, in which, in 1963, he became an infantry lieutenant. Coming back, he resumed painting subjects such as birds and flowers. Ended military service in 1965, he became an assistant in drawing courses at the catholic minor seminary in Seoul where he learned about Catholicism and was baptized in 1967. He arrived in Europe in 1969. He studied philosophy in Switzerland, entered the Dominican Order as a novice at the Dominican convent of Freiburg, encouraged by fathers Pfister et Geiger.

He was ordained a priest in 1974, and in 1975 he was assigned to the Convent of the Annunciation in Paris, where he lives and works.

Style

In his works, there is an impression of "liquidity" or "fluidity" of the pigments used. Thanks to sweet, pure and clear colours, Kim En Joong recreates a magical show by playing both on the liveliness of tones and on subtle contrasts. The mystical research of this artist is mainly reflected in his desire to penetrate the essence of things and to make visible what is not a priori. As a painter of light, he often succeeds in realizing this purpose.^[3][4]

Honours and awards

Gallery