The first American exhibition of South Korean artist Kim Chong Hak's work on view at the High Museum

Kim Chong Hak, known widely as “the painter of Mount Seorak,” worked prolifically in abstract art over the first decades of his career as an artist.

Then, in 1979, the painter left public life and the city, secluding himself in the mountains. The experience transformed him and his art, and Kim Chong Hak is now renowned for expressive landscapes and botanicals that celebrate nature with a rare freedom of brushwork.

“Kim Chong Hak, Painter of Seoraksan” is the new, first-ever American exhibition of his work at the High Museum of Art, on view April 11-Nov. 2. Michael Rooks is the Wieland Family Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the High. He joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes to discuss the exhibition.