Chungbuk National University Newspaper | Naesoong: Looking Into the Real Self Within

Here is a woman dressed elegantly in hanbok. The sight of her in the painting is more than enough to make us smile. Dressed and formal in her hanbok, as if ready for a ceremony, she is, ironically, playing billiards or riding a McDonald's delivery motorcycle. A woman eating ramyeon in a red jeogori and ink-black skirt gazes toward a luxury bag and a Starbucks tumbler nearby. The painter who captures these curious women on white paper is none other than Kim Hyun Jung, honored in 2014 on Dong-A Ilbo's '100 People Who Will Shine Korea in 10 Years' and, in 2015, with the 8th Annual Women in Culture Award's Cheonghyeon Culture Award. So what does the life of the woman Kim Hyun Jung depicts look like? Let's step into her story now.

The Girl Who Painted

Following Her Sister, Steps Into Korean Painting

Unlike the flamboyant women in her paintings, the way the artist came to Korean painting is ordinary.

"Generally, younger sisters want to follow their older sisters, and daughters want to resemble their mothers, right? I naturally started art too, following my sister, who majored in art. Among various fields, the reason I began Korean painting was that it gave me a fresh shock I'd never felt in works done with Western materials. In particular, I wanted to chase the wit, delicate observation, and lively brushwork found in Kim Hong-do's teacher's <Mudong (Dancing Boy)> and <Ssireum (Wrestling)>, and that thinking is what made me insist on Korean painting's own techniques and materials."

Though she began art in an ordinary way, she was more passionate and ambitious than anyone else in pursuit of better work. She majored in Oriental Painting at Seoul National University while double-majoring in Business Administration. Studying several times harder than other students, she earned higher grades than many Business Administration majors.

"From the moment I decided to become an artist, I thought a great deal about the limits of Korea's current art market and the hardships facing young artists. Why is it that artists go hungry even though artworks are priced so high? Could all artists who dream in art open up their own artistic world without facing practical hardship? These questions kept arising, and to solve them, I felt I needed to understand the art market better, which led me to decide to double-major in Business Administration. Of course, majoring in it didn't perfectly help me understand the art market, and switching between right brain and left brain for Business Administration and Oriental Painting sometimes overloaded my head, but Business Administration is certainly a field of study that let me see the world from a different, broader perspective."

Naesoong Story, Breaking the Mold

In an art world that values seniority and experience, the moment that made her, at 28, rise as a promising new talent was her first solo exhibition, 'Naesoong Story.' For her, the work was a process of finding answers to her own worries, and she expressed that process boldly and wittily.

"From adolescence, I was a student sensitive to others' 'gaze.' Rather than living the life I wanted, I was someone who only chased the image reflected in people's gaze. As that 'gaze' became the standard of my life, it became increasingly hard to bear. So, to find my faded self, to steady my center of gravity without wavering, I needed time for self-questioning — 'who am I,' or 'who should I be.' That's how I began the work 'Naesoong Story.'"

So what does "naesoong" mean to her?

"I think naesoong, regardless of gender, is a common 'inconsistency' that arises from the universal desire to be recognized by others — ordinary people hiding their shortcomings and wanting to show their good side. When I first conceived 'Naesoong Story,' it, too, was meant to caricature people whose outside and inside differ. But as I kept working on it, I suddenly realized that the figure in the painting resembled me not only in appearance but even in essence, and the subject of the painting shifted to myself. In the end, I realized that the very things I was trying to caricature also existed in me, and that the traits of others I disliked were, ultimately, traits of my own that I wanted to deny. From then on, I came to understand 'naesoong' as 'every attitude of presenting an outward appearance different from one's inner feelings to satisfy others' gaze or conventional evaluation,' and I began painting the naesoong situations I could find in my own everyday life as self-portraits too. In the end, the current 'Naesoong' series is a confessional self-portrait."

Beyond expressing the work as self-portraiture, what makes the theme of "naesoong" stand out even more in her work is the "contrast" within the painting itself — the contrast between hanbok, a symbol of formality and elegance, and the everyday behavior of the figure wearing it; the contrast between traditional Oriental coloring technique and Western collage technique.

"The reason I chose hanbok as a key motif in my work is that the contrast between wearing hanbok — a symbol of formality and elegance — while doing something extremely casual, everyday, and habitual, metaphorically expresses the gap between outside and inside, while also presenting the freedom that comes from departing from convention. The contrast between 'formality' and 'everyday life' becomes a medium metonymically representing the internal contrast called 'naesoong.' Also, since hanbok, with its multiple layered garments and its long, wide skirt, has a high degree of concealment, painting the figure nude first while dressed in such concealing hanbok, and then collaging hanji over it so that the inside shows through, can more dramatically induce the viewer's psychological insight into the inner self of the figure putting on naesoong. The more something is hidden, the greater the fun of uncovering the true feeling underneath."

Dreaming of an Artist Who Communicates with the Public

Her work is, for her, a process of finding answers to her worries and a channel for communicating with the public; for the public, it's an outlet of liberation from a harsh world. Confident that nothing satisfies her quite like painting, we look forward to what work she will bring to us next, and to her path ahead.

Her solo exhibition 'Naesoong Olympics,' held last June at Gana Insa Art Center in Insadong, set consecutive records for Gana Insa Art Center's attendance since its opening, with a single-day maximum of 3,733 visitors and roughly 24,000 total visitors. Her solo exhibitions held this year have also sold out with each show, and her steps forward seem as bold and unhesitant as her paintings. But for her, the title of "artist" always brings a certain fear.

"Before being a Korean painter, there is much fear in living as an 'artist.' As the saying goes, 'artists go hungry,' living as an artist by profession is genuinely difficult. When painting as an artist, I'm truly happy, but as I carry out many projects, there are moments when I keenly feel that young artists are the vulnerable ones in our country, and I taste a sense of defeat. Moreover, because I am a Korean painter living in the present, while embedding contemporary themes into my work and expressing them in a modern way, I must always research extensively to harmonize them with traditional materials, and I'm always anxious and on edge about whether the result will achieve good harmony."

Though she has achieved much as a young Korean painter, she still has many dreams she wants to fulfill.

"My ultimate goal is first to establish myself as an artist in my own right, but alongside that, I want to contribute to creating a culture and structure in which art becomes woven into everyday life, accessible to everyone. Further, I sometimes imagine myself as a 'missionary of traditional culture' who can popularly explain the traditional culture appearing in our art. Also, these days I'm working to open up a genre I call 'social drawing.' Using social networks, the public and the artist complete a single work together. I have many such dreams, but their ultimate goal is just one thing: art that breathes together with the public, and art shared with young artists."

She also had words of advice for students at our university walking a similar path.

"If you work with a heart that truly, earnestly loves what you do, I believe good results will always follow. Difficult times always come, but if you overcome each moment by remembering your dream, your love for the work, and your passion, I'm confident good moments will come."

Written by — Reporter Kim Do-yeon (khra0131@cbnu.ac.kr)