"ARTIFICIAL LANDSCAPE-Geometric Purple" (2011) is a stunning, unique and conceptually exciting painting by one of the most exciting young Contemporary Korean artists working today, female artist Kim Jong-Sook, who is gaining international acclaim for her ARTIFICIAL LANDSCAPE series of paintings that combine paint and crystals, created with the formal support and promotion of Swarovski. The artist is influenced not only by her desire to re-interpret traditional Korean ink brush landscape paintings, but also by the work of Contemporary Western artists who also use crystals and decorative materials to their works, such as the Diamond Dust prints of Andy Warhol and now Russell Young, diamond encrusted skulls by Damien Hirst, the large crystal embellished paintings of Mickalene Thomas and the famed poured diamond series of photographs by Vik Muniz among others. This work measures 27.56 x 27.56 inches (70 x 70 cm), is unframed and in perfect condition.
"Artificial Landscape-Geometric Purple" is one of the artist's most colorful, sophisticated and compositionally exciting and dynamic paintings to-date, creating her own version of Traditional Korean ink brush landscape in a super-cropped, close-up scene based on high cliffs and deep valleys. To the painted canvas, the artist archivally and painstakingly applies by hand thousands of colored SWAROVSKI faceted crystals in broad, geometric bands that interrupt the landscape, loading specific areas of the landscape with shimmering pink, lavender, purple, blue and red crystals, while leaving other areas of the canvas unembellished, simply painted in lush purples and bright reds, adding exciting visual and spatial balance to the work with astounding results and enchanging the Contemporary feel of the painting.

The artist was born and raised in South Korea, and graduated with her BFA, MFA, and a Doctoral Degree in arts from Hongik University, South Korea. Her mixed media paintings have already appeared in numerous solo and group Museum and Gallery exhibitions throughout Asia, Europe, and the U.S. including the Zaha Museum of Art, Seoul; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China; The Huangcheng Art Museum, Bejing, China; The Saga Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan; and WHITE BOX Gallery, Los Angeles, U.S. Her works are held in the permanent collections at the Mogam Museum of Art and The Hoseo National Museum of Contemporary Art. The artist lives and works in Korea."