Women’s News | Wanting to Become a Role Model Bringing Dreams and Hope to Young Girls

[Interview] Korean painter Kim Hyun Jung

Known for the 'Naesoong series,' including Naesoong Story and Naesoong Olympics

Uses SNS communication and emoticons to lower the threshold for art

"An artist is a 'one-person entrepreneur'... a management mindset is essential"

"There are many women in the art world too whose careers are interrupted. A lot of them put down their brush after giving birth. But once you put down the brush, it's hard to pick it back up. Painting isn't easy — you have to keep at it constantly, and that's not easy while raising a child."

We met artist Kim Hyun Jung (29), known as the 'idol of Korean painting,' on April 21 at her studio in Gangnam, Seoul. Her elegant hanbok and braided hair matched the figures in her paintings exactly — just as she says, she uses herself as her own model. Having discovered elements of feminism within herself while working as a female artist, she is currently studying feminism. When she meets acquaintances, she greets them by asking, "Are you a feminist?" instead of the usual pleasantries. She brings up feminism as a topic even when talking with staff at the art center she runs. "It upsets me when I'm ignored or discriminated against for being a female artist. People often judge me by my looks, saying things like 'pretty' or 'I like her.' Sexual harassment especially happens a lot online. I want people to look at my work, not comment on my appearance."

Artist Kim, who has attended art studios since age eight, walked the path of a painter through Sun Hwa Arts Middle School, Sun Hwa Arts High School, and Seoul National University's Department of Oriental Painting. She has lived more than half her life as a painter. On the 13th (local time), she made Forbes' '30 Under 30 Asia' list. As it is unusual for an Oriental painter to be selected in that category as a fine artist, Kim said she felt "dazed." "When you're in school, most of your friends are women, but once you step into the field, almost everyone well known is a man. It's like the world of chefs," she said. "At some point I came to feel a sense of mission as a female artist."

Known for her 'Naesoong series,' she paints Korean painting using "hyperrealist techniques." "There are very few artists in Korea who paint the way I do. I work with the feeling that if I let go of this technique, its lineage might disappear." The women in her 'Naesoong'-themed paintings wear hanbok skirts through which the skin beneath is visible. Because they act without any formality despite being dressed in hanbok, her ink-wash paintings carry a refined yet playfully unexpected charm. They ride galloping racehorses in hanbok, eat ramyeon with their skirts hiked up, or play billiards and bowling. She has captured on canvas the artist's own everyday moments spent at a nearby mountain, an amusement park, or a street food stall.

Since 2013, artist Kim has continued solo and group exhibitions themed on Naesoong, including 'Naesoong Story,' 'Naesoong Olympics,' and 'Naesoong Winter Story.' "Naesoong means something different from what's on the inside, but I think of it as a 'white lie.' So I don't think of it purely as something bad. Painting the skirt as translucent was also meant to express the falsehood that reveals what's inside."

But her work is also criticized from a feminist perspective. The woman named 'Naesoong-nyeo' in her paintings is sometimes shown dragging her shoes on a leash like a dog, or eyeing a Starbucks coffee cup in her bag while eating ramyeon. Critics say this reflects the disapproving gaze Korean men cast on women's consumption. She said, "By nature I'm not good at hiding things or lying. I'm the 'multiple-personality' type — there are several 'me's living inside, and I have to express everything I want to express" — while also acknowledging she understands such criticism.

Artist Kim is nearly alone among Korean painters in communicating with the public through SNS. She personally manages 13 channels, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Her Facebook followers alone number 110,000. "Running SNS feels like opening an exhibition in real time. 'Likes' let me instantly see which works are popular. I also co-create works with netizens sometimes — it's work that draws on collective intelligence." She calls this 'social drawing.' A work completed this way is 'New Year's Resolution (feat. Starting Tomorrow),' depicting a woman who has resolved to diet, shouting 'starting tomorrow' while happily eating pizza, ice cream, and other favorite foods laid out in front of the refrigerator.

Her SNS communication is also driven by her wish to "lower the threshold for art." Releasing emoticons last year was part of that effort. "If people use emoticons featuring my work in everyday life, maybe it'll lead them to think, 'That artist has an exhibition — should I go check it out?' or 'Kim Hyun Jung's paintings were fun — maybe I should go see other Korean painters' work too.' So I'm trying various things." Some respond with, "Why lower yourself doing that?" Artist Kim stressed that the art world, too, needs to break free of outdated notions and adapt to change.

"I think an artist is a 'one-person entrepreneur.' First you have to pay studio rent, and to even afford paint, you need a management mindset. But the moment you try to make money in the art world, you get branded as a 'bad kid.' Why is trying to make money bad? We're just trying to make a living too. Usually design is called commercial art and painting pure art, but I don't know what 'pure' even means. If you dislike commerce that much, you shouldn't sell your work at all."

Artist Kim has the unusual background, for an art student, of double-majoring in business administration. It was a choice she made to push back against a campus culture that "looked down on art students, and looked down on women." Following business students who studied 'like crazy' was hard, but she says she learned a lot. She came to understand corporate concerns and became able to give tailored lectures for different companies.

She said she wants to explore themes beyond the Naesoong series going forward. She has 'bathhouse series' and 'expression series' in mind. With a strong interest in figure painting, she is also working on portraits. "I want to record the faces of this era's heroes. I've finished pieces of about three people close to me, including Park Sul-nyeo (a renowned hanbok designer)." She also has firm ambitions to expand overseas. She held solo exhibitions last year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Korean Cultural Center in Berlin, Germany. "There's so much I still want to achieve. I want to enter the European and Chinese markets, and ultimately, I want to become a role model who gives dreams and hope to girls who aspire to become artists."

[Korean painter Kim Hyun Jung]

△2001–2004 Sun Hwa Arts Middle School △2004–2007 Sun Hwa Arts High School △2008–2013 Seoul National University, B.A. in Oriental Painting and Business Administration △2013–2015 Seoul National University Graduate School, M.A. in Oriental Painting △2017 Seoul National University Graduate School, Ph.D. candidate in Oriental Painting

Written by — Reporter Kang Pu-reum (Women's News)