A Quiet Dal-dongne Illuminated by Starry Lights... Jeong Young-joo's 'Another World'

'Another World' Exhibition at Hakgojae, Samcheong-dong until August 21
Warm Dal-dongne Scenery Created with 'Papier Coll?' Technique Using Hanji

Artist Jung Young-joo. Photo by Hakgojae

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] "They were hillside houses that looked like they could collapse at any moment."

Artist Jung Youngjoo (52), who grew up in Busan during her childhood, returned to her homeland in 1998 due to the IMF financial crisis while working in the United States after studying in Paris, France. By chance, she encountered a shantytown and transferred that scenery onto canvas to tell her own story.

Jung Youngjoo’s solo exhibition "Another World," which conveys warm stories on canvas using themes of hillside neighborhoods, shantytowns, and night scenes, is being held at Hakgojae Gallery in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, until August 21.

The artist, who has been painting hillside neighborhood scenes for 15 years, became widely known to the public in 2020 when it was revealed that RM (Kim Namjoon), leader of the group BTS, collected her works. As proof of her popularity, all 27 pieces except for the largest large-scale work were sold before the exhibition opened.

Using the collage technique "papier coll?," invented by Picasso, she tears and pastes hanji (traditional Korean paper) onto the canvas to complete her works, quietly capturing the warm scenes of the hillside neighborhood people she encountered in her childhood. Colors are applied over layers of hanji, and when the streetlamp light shines between them, a three-dimensional and vivid scene unfolds before the audience as if a small hillside neighborhood set has been created.

High Hills Village 111, 2022, Paper and acrylic on canvas, 130.3x162cm. Photo by Hakgojae

The streetlamp light warmly illuminating the narrow alleys perhaps lights up the hearts of the shantytown residents who may have been cold and struggling, evoking memories of forgotten family warmth. Although the circumstances were poor, the artist’s focus on a time filled with simple human kindness depicts the hillside neighborhood not as a place of poverty and pain but as a warm haven filled with hope for tomorrow.

Although the work began inspired by familiar hometown scenery, the hillside neighborhood in the artworks is not an actual landscape but an imagined village. The warm, imagined hillside neighborhood beyond the bleak reality may be the hopeful message the artist conveys. The exhibition title "Another World" also reflects this context.

The artist shared, “I hope people feel the comfort of a hometown through my paintings, a place that welcomes you and offers solace when you are struggling.”