Yongsung Kim — Christian and Korean Artist

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John Dye: Okay, we’re here with Yongsung Kim.
Austen: Yes.
Yongsung: Yes.
John Dye: Yongsung, say hello.
Yongsung: Hi.
John Dye: And we’re here with Austen, the translator.
Austen: Hi, yeah I’m here to help Kim Yongsung, since it’s a little far from home for him.
John Dye: Wonderful. And Yongsung is from South Korea.
Yongsung: Yeah.
Austen: Yeah.
John Dye: Okay, what city?
Yongsung: From Seoul.
John Dye: Seoul.
Yongsung: From Seoul, yeah.
John Dye: Oh, in Seoul. Okay, wonderful. Can we look at your pieces behind you?
Yongsung: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
John Dye: Can we come back here?
Yongsung: Yeah.
Austen: [Korean 00:00:32] John Dye: So Yongsung, the one I’m most familiar with is this piece.
Austen: [Korean 00:00:39] Yongsung: Yeah.
John Dye: Yes, which is your most popular piece?
Austen: [Korean 00:00:47] John Dye: This piece.
Yongsung: Hands of God.
John Dye: Okay. Very good.
Austen: Hand of God.
John Dye: Hand of God. Okay, yes. That’s great. You also do a lot with sheep. The motif is sheep.
Austen: [Korean 00:01:01] John Dye: And probably the lost sheep?
Austen: [Korean 00:01:05] Yongsung: Yeah, yeah.
Austen: [Korean 00:01:07] Yongsung: Yeah.
John Dye: Yeah, maybe explain why, why did you choose that motif?
Austen: [Korean 00:01:13] Yongsung: [Korean 00:01:19] Austen: So it’s because Christ is our loving shepherd.
Yongsung: [Korean 00:01:21] Austen: So just like it says in Psalms 10, there’s the famous passage about him finding us.
Yongsung: [Korean 00:01:34] Austen: And that he’s even willing to give his life for us.
Yongsung: [Korean 00:01:38] Austen: Very good person.
John Dye: Yeah, very good. Oh, that’s wonderful.
Yongsung: [Korean 00:01:46] Austen: Wherever you are-
Yongsung: [Korean 00:01:48] Austen: … you can meet again or be his lamb.
Yongsung: [Korean 00:01:50] Austen: His loved lamb.
Yongsung: Yeah.
John Dye: Oh, wonderful. Thank you, thank you. Do you have a particular touching story behind one of these images that you’d like to share with us?
Austen: [Korean 00:02:05] Yongsung: [Korean 00:02:13] Hand of God.
Austen: Probably the Hand of God.
John Dye: Can you share that with us?
Austen: [Korean 00:02:19] Yongsung: Yeah. Peter [Korean 00:02:24] Austen: So Peter’s fallen in the water.
Yongsung: [Korean 00:02:27] Austen: At that moment, Christ stretched out his hands, is pulling him up.
Yongsung: [Korean 00:02:34] Austen: Even Peter, who did not have strong belief at that moment …
Yongsung: [Korean 00:02:45] Austen: … he didn’t say, “Why don’t you believe? Why are you in the water?”
Yongsung: [Korean 00:02:49] Austen: He didn’t criticize him.
Yongsung: [Korean 00:02:54] Austen: Even as he was sinking, he said, “It’s okay.”
Yongsung: [Korean 00:02:59] Austen: We can fix this.
Yongsung: [Korean 00:03:05] Austen: I hope that when people see this, they’ll notice that Peter isn’t there because …
Yongsung: [Korean 00:03:15] Austen: I am Peter. I could be Peter.
Yongsung: [Korean 00:03:21] Austen: So even if you feel like you’re falling under water, you’re drowning …
Yongsung: [Korean 00:03:30] Austen: … those trials, those pains, that suffering …
Yongsung: [Korean 00:03:35] Austen: At that moment, I hope people feel like it’s not Christ reaching his hand out to Peter, but to me.
Yongsung: Yeah.
John Dye: Yeah, very good.
Yongsung: [Korean 00:03:47] Austen: If you just grab his hand, it’ll all be okay.
Yongsung: [Korean 00:03:55] Austen: Christ’s hand.
Austen: So a lot of people talk to me through SNS, or through just different social media.
Austen: They’ll tell me, “I’m going through such-and-such difficult circumstances. I’m going through this trial.”
Austen: “And I’m despairing, I have no hope.”
Austen: “And the moment, I saw your picture and thought I too can grab Jesus’ hand.”
Austen: “And that was through that painting I realized that.”
Austen: Actually sometimes people think, you know, “I’ve fallen in the water and sinking, like this is going to be my tomb.”
Austen: “I really am falling. I think I’m really going to die [crosstalk 00:04:58] Austen: “It was at that moment, seeing that painting, I realized that I could still grab the Savior’s hand. He saved me.”
Austen: So one teenager told him, one young adult told him, “If it wasn’t for your painting, I think I would be dead by now.”
Austen: Maybe they were thinking of suicide at that time.
Austen: But at that time, they grabbed the hand of God, and he saved them.
Austen: And they said, “Thank you for saving me.”
Austen: So another family’s going through a difficult time. There was troubles with the husband, and things weren’t going well for their family. But it was through this, the idea that this painting represents, that they realized that they were still able to restore their family.
Austen: A lot of people look at [crosstalk 00:06:14] Austen: They can see comfort, they can heal, and actually they can be restored completely.
John Dye: Very good.