Still life is a painting of motionless objects. Corresponding word of English ‘still life’ in German linguistic stock is Dutch word ‘stilleven’, and German word ‘stilleben’. The meaning is ‘immobile, inanimate life. Among Latin linguistic stock, in French it is ‘nature morte’ and in Italian, ‘natura morta’. That means ‘died nature’. To the people in Western countries, the image of still life is immobile or died life or nature. Dead life or nature fundamentally reveals vanity. They do not forget that even in front of the beautiful and splendid still lives. Objects in Kang Mi-sun’s still lifes, however, are not immobile or dead. They accost us quietly. Artists in Western countries regard the still lifes as dead objects, Kang Mi-sun, on the other hand, treats them as living friends. She does not assume this attitude intentionally but she expresses that naturally from her life and feeling. The artist knows the language of things and the way to make conversation with them. One day she finds herself making conversation with them like that. The reason why conversation is important to us is that all of us are lonely and weak. Loneliness and weakness, however, are the best condition for conversation. When I reveal my loneliness and weakness, the other reveals his loneliness and weakness, too. Then the two become the most intimate friends. Kang Mi-sun’s habit of accosting things seems like that. She whispers that she has nothing great or boastful, and just wants to share the lonely and empty feelings with things. The things are delighted at that and tell a story of their past and lonely time of today. Empty bowl tells about the emptiness, leafless tree tells about the bareness, music scores deserted by a player tell about the desolation. In talking about the things departed from them, they find each other to fulfill the loss, and experience how warm and happy the everyday life could become by this kind of plain conversation. Quiet feeling of that satisfaction and abundance fills Kang Mi-sun’s seemingly vacant paintings. The heart of the audience becomes full of warm conversation.
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