Culture News | Korean Painter Kim Hyun Jung, “An Artist Is a One-Person Startup”
In an interview with Culture News, Korean painter Kim Hyun Jung compared being an artist to running a one-person startup, emphasizing the importance of archiving one's work and managing one's own history. She said she plans to expand her 21st-century genre paintings into works featuring diverse facial expressions and emoticons.
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▲ Artist Kim Hyun Jung
[Culture News, Reporter Kim Min-kyung] Continued from Korean painter Kim Hyun Jung, 'Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia'... "A First in Fine Art" ①.
Beyond painting, you're active in many areas — lectures, emoticons, corporate work. Could you talk about yourself from the perspective that 'an artist is a one-person startup'?
ㄴ An artist is a one-person startup. Not only do you have to cover various costs to keep working, you also have to archive your own work yourself. Only then will it later become possible for art historians to organize and study it. I wish schools taught this more. Above all, the work itself has to be good first for people to gather around it. Rather than chasing only successful results, you need to understand the process and history behind achieving them. Dansaekhwa or Mondrian's paintings were made possible by thousands of hours of an artist's own effort, and were eventually recognized because of it.
There are various perspectives on me. Some see me as a marketing genius, but I think this level of marketing is just the basics. I think the difference between a celebrity and an artist lies in what comes to mind first. For an artist, 'the painting' should naturally come to mind first. The 'main' and the 'supplementary' need to be clear, and in that sense, I want to be known as 'Korean painter' Kim Hyun Jung.
What kind of work will follow across various themes going forward? Will you continue the 'Naesoong Story' series, or are you planning a different kind of series?
ㄴ There are two directions. I'm planning to more actively express the genre painting of the 21st century. Other people have rarely appeared in my work so far, but this time I'm planning pieces featuring multiple people. Also, since Korean people tend not to show much facial expression, I'm planning work centered on faces expressing 28 different emotions, to be released online. I'm also planning to mass-produce figures as lenticular emoticon works. I hope people will use Oriental painting more in their everyday lives.
▲ Kim Hyun Jung, 'Acha'
What are your plans going forward? I'd like to hear about your ambitions regarding domestic and overseas exhibitions, or other corporate work and lectures.
ㄴ I'll work hard as opportunities come. It's true that requests are coming in from many places, but these days I'm focusing on study as a preparation period. I'm also exploring a change in style. I think 'Naesoong Story' is a lifelong theme. But on the other hand, even though the 'Naesoong Story' series has changed from installment to installment, viewers may not feel a big change. Holding a solo exhibition requires a lot of preparation, and I think you need to show something good.
This year's group exhibitions include the 'Sasha Exhibition' at Gallery Iang, running until May 15, and the 'Kiss, and Honeymoon Diary Exhibition' at the Lotte Yeongdeungpo Gallery, running from May 10 to June 4.
What's your method for generating creativity?
ㄴ Creativity is creating something out of nothing. It's important to view familiar things differently. In my case, the answer was in 'everyday life.' The activities the women in my paintings do — scrubbing at the sauna, shopping — are things we do often in our daily lives.
These days the word 'artainer' comes up a lot. Where's the line for being a 'professional'?
ㄴ I think it means having your own perspective, real attachment, and digging deeply into one subject. It's necessary for the mind to deliberate a lot before the brush moves, rather than letting the brush move first. Actually, this is something I think about a lot, so I answer carefully.
▲ Artist Kim Hyun Jung
avin@mhns.co.kr