THE VIEW | vol.106 | Where Naesoong Meets Sincerity

Where Naesoong Meets Sincerity

Kim Hyun Jung's paintings are like a mirror. Through the witty and beautifully rendered 'Naesoong Series,' which captures the discomfort of confronting oneself, she asks us: this is how I am — what about you?

PROFILE

She graduated from the Department of Oriental Painting at Seoul National University's College of Fine Arts and is currently pursuing a master's degree at the same school. She has introduced her work through three solo exhibitions in Korea and numerous group exhibitions abroad, including in the United States, Hong Kong, and Germany. Through active communication via social media and her blog, she has led efforts to popularize Oriental and Korean painting. Her awards include the Gold Prize in the Korean Painting category at the 2nd Korea Women's Art Grand Exhibition and the Grand Prize in the Korean Painting category at the 4th World Peace Grand Art Exhibition.

This year's exhibition of the Naesoong Series drew a hot response.

I began preparing for the exhibition I would present this spring around the time last year's graduate fall semester ended. After more than six full months devoted to preparation, I was able to successfully carry out what I can truly call a turning point in my life.

What does 'Naesoong' mean to Kim Hyun Jung?

The keyword in my work, 'Naesoong,' refers to any attitude of presenting an outward appearance different from one's true feelings in order to satisfy other people's gazes or conventional judgments. Hegel described people's efforts to be recognized as a "struggle for recognition." I think Naesoong is an almost instinctive and universal phenomenon that occurs as part of this struggle for recognition. The moment I realized that I, too, am a human being who finds it hard to escape the grip of Naesoong, I conceived the groundwork for the Naesoong Series, which can be called my self-portrait.

The way you express it through hanbok and nudity is interesting.

The hanbok is an effective costume for revealing the phenomenon of "dressing formally and elegantly while engaging in common, everyday behavior." And drawing the figure in the nude, then rendering it so that the inside shows through via collage (for the jacket) or ink-and-color wash (for the skirt), is likewise a device that leads the viewer to the insight about Naesoong that "you can see right through it."

What truth or sincerity are you seeking to find through your work?

My fundamental concern is discovering a "free self." Through my art practice, I have come to confront and accept a freer, more honest version of myself. In the end, what I am seeking could be called a human image free from others' gazes and conventional judgment.

All your works sold out in just two days. Which piece are you most attached to?

I would pick my very first work, 'Narcissus.' In that early image, the moment of being absorbed in applying eyebrow makeup before a palm-sized hand mirror struck me as a representative image of Naesoong. This work is also personally significant to me because it won the Gold Prize at the Korea Women's Art Grand Exhibition.

What kind of 'self-portraits' do you plan to paint going forward?

I intend to keep discovering and turning into art the 'Naesoong' within myself and within contemporary people, for as long as sincerity can reach. I also want to become an evangelist who spreads the charm and beauty of Korean painting to the world. With oil painting, the more layers you apply, the thicker the surface becomes, but with ink-and-color wash painting, the more times you apply thin, diluted ink, the more the transparency comes alive through gradation and bleeding. In collage, hanji paper is torn and pasted with glue, and the pattern varies depending on how it is applied. And isn't the empty space in Oriental painting, too, truly beautiful as a space for the imagination!

[Photo caption] Narcissus (90×72cm) / Oops (145×117cm)