Ajou Economy | Exercising in Hanbok, Funny Precisely Because She’s Not Being Coy

"She was pretty." Audacious delight comes as a bonus. Korean painter Kim Hyun Jung's solo exhibition, held on the 1st floor exhibition hall of Insa Art Center in Seoul, is full of vitality. It has an "oho — look at this" kind of charm that pulls in passersby. A woman in a tracksuit, elegantly dressed in hanbok, plays pocket billiards; another, geared up over her hanbok skirt, clings to a rock-climbing wall; yet another lies on a weight machine in a hanbok skirt sheer enough to see through, staring straight ahead. The exhibition is titled "2014 Naesoong Olympics," an extension of the "Naesoong Story" series featuring works prepared over the year since her solo exhibition last June. Since last year, she has captured everyday exercise scenes at Yangjae Citizens' Park in Seoul and put them on canvas. The works belong to the "Naesoong series," but the artist met in the exhibition hall showed no trace of "naesoong" (coyness) herself.

Interview: "The Idol of Korean Painting," Artist Kim Hyun Jung

"2014 Naesoong Olympics," an Extension of the Naesoong Series

"Stale Korean Painting" Transformed Fresh and Sexy

"I hope people leave my exhibition having had a good laugh...

I want to be an artist who scratches the itch people can't reach"

"Visitors around my mother's age see my work and immediately say, 'How audacious, how funny,' and they love it. When that happens, it really makes me happy too."

The paintings, which capture moments of the artist's everyday life, grow more entertaining the longer you look. "Woman Playing Alone" is an "aesthetics of boldness." She pays no mind to others' gazes. The sight of her doing sit-ups with a luxury handbag tucked between her legs draws an instant laugh. Contemporary essentials like Starbucks coffee and an iPod appear in the scene, but the device feels witty precisely because the woman is wearing hanbok. It looks like a scene from a film where a Joseon-era princess, bored with palace life, has time-traveled into the present.

With flashy, high-heeled flower shoes, she carries a hint of "doenjang-nyeo," yet the woman on the canvas is never unlikeable. Watching her, expressionless and absorbed in her workout, brings a certain catharsis. By honestly and plainly confessing her own inner self, the artist draws empathy from viewers of every age and gender.

Twenty-seven years old. Her works, brimming with the artist's own energy, are filled with the "brilliant light of youth," like a young shoot breaking through the earth in spring.

A major strength is how "stale Korean painting" has been transformed into something fresh. While maintaining the traditional technique of ink-wash coloring, she has transformed it into something vivid and sexy, injecting new energy even into the art market.

Having entered the path of an artist with the resolve, "Even as an artist, I don't have to go hungry," the artist herself is as bold as the woman in her paintings.

There's a sexy, bubbly lightness to the work, but its substance is far from lightweight. The paintings are vivid and joyful, but there was real struggle behind bringing them into the world.

During her college years, she failed a thesis review so badly that she cried buckets of tears. At the time too, she had painted on the theme of "hwabyeong" (a culturally specific anger/repression syndrome) as part of her "Naesoong" story, but her professors simply didn't understand it. She developed depression. After graduating and entering graduate school, she became certain: "I will paint what I want to paint." The paintings that emerged from that conviction became the start of the Naesoong series. The woman in hanbok carries the symbolic meaning of carrying on tradition, since the artist herself majors in Korean painting.

So what is "naesoong," exactly? "These days I wear hanbok often enough that it feels natural, but back when I first put one on, it felt awkward, yet somehow gave me a sense of elegance. But what you see on the outside and what's underneath are different. Underneath, the legs move freely, however they please." Imagining "what might be happening beneath that wide skirt," she painted the hanbok skirt as translucent. Dyed thin hanji, collaged onto the skirt, makes the inner body genuinely show through, lending it a racy quality. It's a sexy, witty indictment of the "naesoong" of modern people who never reveal their true inner selves.

"'Naesoong' is often used to describe women in our society, but it's not something exclusive to women, is it? It started from a desire to caricature people who hide their shortcomings and put on a good front — being coy — but as I kept working on it, 'naesoong' has now become a subject of psychological and philosophical analysis for me."

The artist majored in Oriental Painting at Seoul National University with a double major in Business Administration. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in Oriental Painting at the same university's graduate school and currently teaches at Anyang Arts High School.

"I hope people have a good, hearty laugh at my exhibition and leave feeling better. Painting my own work actually helped treat my own depression. When my pieces sold at my very first exhibition, with people saying it was fun and funny, I was stunned, but happy. I'd rather be an artist who scratches people's itch than a 'great' artist."

This exhibition is entirely "self-promoted" — she personally rented the gallery and even produced a thick catalog herself. Perhaps thanks to that confidence, her works sold out completely at an art fair last year, drawing significant buzz. What's more, since Korean painting has been in a prolonged slump, her stock rose all the more. Praised as "audacious" for her fresh ideas, themes, and expressive techniques, she became even more famous through social media, earning the nickname "the idol of Korean painting." Thanks to this, her exhibition halls resemble the scene at a celebrity event — visitors line up for catalog signatures, and the venue is packed shoulder to shoulder.

This exhibition presents not only paintings but also 3D-printed figures of the characters from her canvases. Prices for paintings start around 10 million won for a 100-ho canvas, with figures priced around 1 million won. The exhibition runs through the 30th. (02) 736-1020

Reporter Park Hyun-joo hyun@

[Photo caption] Kim Hyun Jung, "Well Done Today, Too," 107 x 165cm

[Photo caption] Kim Hyun Jung, "A Meeting Disguised as Coincidence," 129 x 153cm

Written by — Park Hyeon-ju