DI Today | Telling the Story of Today’s Korea Through a 21st-Century Genre Painting: Korean Painter Kim Hyun Jung

Telling the Story of Today's Korea Through a 21st-Century Genre Painting: Korean Painter Kim Hyun Jung

'The idol of the Korean painting world, opening a new horizon for Korean painting.' This is the epithet that follows Korean painter Kim Hyun Jung.

Her 'Naesoong Story' series — depicting her, elegant in hanbok, eating cup noodles or grilling pork belly at a barbecue restaurant — carries her confession of longing for a state of freedom that escapes others' gaze and conventional assumptions.

The reason her work is loved by so many viewers is not simply because it is witty and fun. By Lee Yoon-jung, reporter, lyj@websmedia.co.kr

Please introduce yourself to DI Magazine readers. Hello, I'm Korean painter Kim Hyun Jung, painting a 21st-century genre painting under the theme 'Naesoong Story.' I dream of communicative art, and aside from lecturing, interviews, and exhibition activities, I work in the studio every day.

You've steadily worked on the theme 'Naesoong Story.' What is this work about? My work captures figures within the paintings living their daily lives without regard for others' gaze, without formality.

They eat tteokbokki in elegant hanbok in a relaxed posture, or grill pork belly alone — candid, everyday scenes. This is a work expressing the many facets humans possess, while also being a confessional self-portrait oriented toward a state of freedom that departs from gaze and convention.

Is there a reason you paint self-portraits? I wanted to express my honest self in everyday life through painting. From adolescence I was a student sensitive to others' gaze, and that gaze even became the standard for my life. As I became conscious of that gaze, my sense of self grew faint, and I wanted to find it again; to hold steady against any gaze, I began this work as a period of self-questioning — asking 'who am I' and 'who should I become.'

Unlike traditional Korean painting, your expressive technique and subject matter feel modern. My paintings basically follow traditional Oriental-painting coloring techniques. But while keeping the technique, I've borrowed collage to add contemporary elements. The semi-transparent skirt rendered in ink tones takes up a large part of my subject matter — to express 'I can see right through you,' I dye thin hanji paper and collage it on. Collage began to be used in the transition from modern to contemporary art, but in Korea there had been no attempt to attach hanji paper or such materials. This idea actually came to me spontaneously, but I feel it captures well the feeling of hanbok that I love, so I plan to keep developing it.

Just as much as the modern subject matter and cheerful material you handle, the exhibitions themselves feel like a kind of play space. My recent exhibition, 'Naesoong Amusement Park,' isn't simply a place to appreciate works — it's a playground where the viewer actually gets to fully enjoy their own hobby of 'appreciating art.' A place where viewers can experience painting and sculpture together with the artist, make meaningful memories, and have a good time before they leave. So the exhibition was designed with events and participatory spaces, decorated like a playground. I wanted viewers to genuinely enjoy the exhibition by appreciating the works and sharing in art activities with the artist.

That feels quite different from the relatively quiet, solemn atmosphere of conventional museums. I wanted the exhibition space itself to match the tendency of the work, to be a space filled with laughter. Every exhibition has a different character, of course (laughs). I'm happiest at the moment I'm painting, and I wanted viewers to feel the same, so I planned it to be as enjoyable and witty as possible. Even in our tough contemporary society, I hoped it could be an exhibition where people could laugh heartily and enjoy themselves, if only for the moment they were viewing it.

There must have been agony and effort hidden behind the cheerful subject matter... Unless you're someone who paints, that process of agony isn't visible, is it? Weren't you ever worried about that? The more easily a work can be read and appreciated, the more time spent agonizing and the more process of contemplation it requires. Actually, I agonize a great deal when I'm working. But it sometimes makes me sad when viewers assume works just appear 'in an instant.' In some quarters, people assume that once I gained recognition, my paintings simply 'became visible,' crediting it to promotion and marketing success. But in truth, I've continuously worked on the theme I began agonizing over back in 2010, painting without a single day off for four years. I work in a disciplined, almost office-like way, with set clock-in and clock-out times, as regularly and strictly as possible. I also do night work sometimes (laughs). The 'Naesoong Amusement Park' exhibition itself took five years for the works and about two years for planning. It's a shame that, since the media only shows the glamorous side, the labor behind that glamour goes unseen.

Still, I think you gain a lot of public favor because of active communication with viewers. I suppose it's because it aligns with the values of beauty I pursue, and because many people can relate to the universal subject matter. I also like the element of wit that I deliberately stage.

Recently you began a solo exhibition, '21st Century Genre Painting Story,' at the Korean Cultural Center in Germany in Berlin — was the response from foreign audiences as good as from Korean audiences? Dr. Brida Schmidt selected and evaluated my work, which is how the exhibition in Germany came about. At the opening, I got to meet various local artists, galleries, and collectors, and more people than I expected came and offered congratulations. I also did an interview with BZ, a leading German daily newspaper with over a million copies in circulation. I think they were probably interested in the method, imagery, and story contained in my work. Honestly, I had a lot of worries before the Germany exhibition. In America, people approached me for photos just because I was wearing hanbok, but I worried that Germany wouldn't respond the same way. But contrary to my worries, they loved my hanbok-clad appearance and my work, and were interested enough to ask for photos too. Above all, since it's a country with a developed literary tradition, what I liked best was that German people listened seriously to the stories behind my work. Seeing how they listened and tried to understand what I said, I was struck by the thought, 'ah, this is the difference between being a developed country or not — whether or not there's interest in art.'

It seems like showing modern imagery through a traditional Korean-painting method came across as interesting to them, too. Yes, that's right. The woman in the work is wearing hanbok, a traditional garment, but the imagery is contemporary. I think this contrast probably came across as fun for foreigners. And the story the work carries is a portrait of modern Korea that all Koreans today can relate to. Korea's image tends to be fixed as rigid, but I think through these works I was able to show a new, contemporary Korea.

Wasn't there difficulty getting them to understand contemporary Korean culture? There are elements that can only be understood 'in Korea' — for instance, the fact that ramyeon is cheap while coffee is expensive. There was indeed a gap in accepting that kind of cultural context. You can only relate to it if you know Korea accurately. So it needed additional explanation, but I think that process is ultimately effective for promoting Korea. It promotes 'contemporary Korea.' For tradition, there are many channels to promote it — traditional music, cultural heritage — but people visiting Korea today are also curious about contemporary Korea.

Given that, what do you think about the potential of the Korean Wave in art through overseas exhibitions? When I participated in my first overseas exhibition, I had a vague worry — 'hanbok is unfamiliar even to Koreans, will foreigners understand it?' But after communicating with the audience, I found that, perhaps because of the current Korean Wave trend, they didn't find Korea itself unfamiliar. It was the same in Insa-dong. When I held my solo exhibition, so many foreigners came, and they enjoyed my exhibition while explaining what they felt in quite some detail. Though it's a bit of a cliché, seeing this made me feel once again that 'the most Korean thing is the most global.'

Do you think Korean painting has a charm of its own? I feel the 'empty space' that Western painting lacks as a charm. I don't just think of empty space as blank space. Westerners unfamiliar with poetry might think of blank white space as simply empty, but to leave empty space while still building a cohesive composition within the whole painting requires countless simulations, and you must go through sketches while constantly envisioning the finished image. As an aside, I once painted a 100-ho-size painting twenty-two times.

But now, beyond flat painting, various working methods like installation and performance are emerging — amid contemporary art where everything can become art, is there a standard for judging what is or isn't art? Now it feels like an era where the boundaries of contemporary art have collapsed, and everything is permitted as art. If a baby is born and the baby lives and moves — isn't that truly the greatest art (laughs)? Then aren't we all artists? Even so, I have my own standard. Whether the work comes to mind first when the name is mentioned, or the face comes to mind first. Of course, I've made the name 'Kim Hyun Jung' widely known through various media, but when people say 'Kim Hyun Jung's work,' the work itself should come to mind first. I believe an artist must speak through their work, regardless of whether it's flat, sculpture, or performance.

#Snow White-gram, 139 x 110 cm, ink and color with collage on hanji

I'm curious about your future exhibition plans. I usually don't set a goal like 'I must hold this many solo exhibitions.' I don't think the number of exhibitions matters. I have a desire to properly show even just one, if I do one at all. Holding an exhibition isn't as simple as just hanging up paintings and being done. Anyone who's done it knows that's not the case. You have to consider the gallery's location and the flow of the booths, the exhibition space, and even the order of the works... In fact, for an exhibition showing 20 works, you actually need to paint over 40. I do it that way too. That way, depending on circumstances, you have a wider range of choice for which paintings to hang. Because there's so much to think about, I keep hesitating until I can plan a proper exhibition. I hope those who dream of becoming artists also don't focus their goal on holding their first solo exhibition quickly.

Don't you think it would be great to run collaboration projects that make use of the 'Korean image' in your work? Actually, I've had a lot of that experience. My work would make for a good collaboration when paired with a brand wanting to promote something Korean. It's a good fit for cosmetics, gaming, K-wave products, and other competitive products for companies that find it burdensome to hire a single model. 'Naesoong Story' is exactly today's Korea as it is. I think there would definitely be good synergy.

Lastly, please share some words and practical advice for readers who dream of becoming Korean painters, or of starting up as a solo artist-entrepreneur. I want to do art that breathes together with the public, and art alongside young artists. My ultimate goal is first to establish myself as an artist, but alongside that, I also want to contribute to building a culture and structure where art becomes embedded in and enjoyed as part of everyday life. And I also imagine myself as an evangelist for traditional culture, able to explain to the public the traditional culture that appears in our art.

Profile cover. #Snow White-gram, 139 x 110 cm, ink and color with collage on hanji

Naesoong: Trembling, 67.5 x 60, ink and color with collage on hanji

Naesoong: Hide and Seek, 63 x 90, ink and color with collage on hanji

Product Life Sketches: TGIF, 138 x 98, ink and color with collage on hanji

Naesoong: 1 Against 30, 190 x 120, ink and color with collage on hanji

Written by — Reporter Lee Yun-jeong