Untitled 1999

Moon Pil Shim made this untitled painting, and what strikes me is how each block feels like a concentrated experiment in texture and color. The way the paint is applied is so crucial, almost like the subject matter itself. Take the dark red block on the left; the paint's thick, swirled like dense earth, and then there's that gloss. It's like a dark mirror reflecting back at you. You can almost feel the weight and drag of the brush, the deliberate way he's building up the surface. Then your eyes move to the shimmering silver block, all ethereal and wispy, a complete contrast. Shim reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter in his exploration of different painting styles, except there's something more grounded, more earthy about Shim’s approach. It’s like he's not just showing us different ways of painting, but different ways of experiencing the world through touch and color. It's a conversation, not just about painting, but about feeling.