Painter uses knife to express rage, love

Hwang Jin-hyun is living testimony to the old adage: "Never say never." The 79-year old painter started out as a bureaucrat with the Economic Planning Board during the Park Chung-hee regime. He helped design the five-year economic plan that would spur Korea`s economic growth. But all of that was just a prelude to his true calling.
When Hwang turned 51, he handed in his resignation and took on painting, full-time.
And now, in honor of his extensive body of work, the monthly art magazine Misulsegye is holding an invitational exhibition at the Chosun Ilbo Art Museum, starting today.
"When I look at my life, I spent half of it doing what I love," said the artist in an interview with The Korea Herald. "I am very proud of that."
Hwang started painting on the side while working for the Economic Planning Board; it was an outlet for the tension he felt.
"I thought that if I painted, I would be able to reduce my stress." At age 40, he was miserable at work. After painting on the side for 10 years, he decided to turn his hobby into his career.
"I gave my youth to my country," said Hwang. "I wanted freedom."
That meant creating with oils on canvas. Having grown up in a musical and artistic household, Hwang became familiar with the medium at an early age.
"When I was young, I used to paint oils on my younger sister`s face while she was sleeping," recalled the mischievous artist.



▲Hwang Jin-hyun [Jean Oh/The Korea Herald]

Every time he pulled this prank, his mother would scold him. She believed that, when you sleep, your spirit leaves your body. And she was worried that, if Hwang put paint on his sister`s face, her spirit would not be able to recognize her body, and would prevent it from returning to its rightful place.
What started out as a joke grew into a passion. While serving as an economic attache to the Korean Consulate General in New York from 1974 to 1977, he enrolled at the New York Art Students` League. At the end of every work day, he learned how to paint from the pros.
After returning to Korea and putting three more years in as the director-general of the Economic Planning Board, Hwang handed in his pen and took up the brush. Or, rather, he took to the knife - the palette knife, to be exact.
He uses it to apply globs of thick oils to the canvas with anger and passion.
"I was angry at the inequalities of society," said Hwang. "So I painted with a knife to express my anger."
Painting allows him to channel his anger into a love for the people of his country.
"Where is the vitality of our people? It is in the women, in the commoners."
His work highlights that raw energy. Hwang`s subjects - ordinary people - vibrate on the canvas, pushing themselves out from the surface in jagged, emotive streaks of paint.
But a sense of affection is there underneath his layers of intensity, taking the edge off, softening his art.
"I also have a deep affection for the poor," he explained.
With 21 solo exhibitions under his belt, Hwang has had many opportunities to express this love for his people. This time around, he gets to sum up 40 years worth of it in one space.
Hwang Jin-hyun`s exhibition, "2008 Misulsegye: The 24th Anniversary Commemoration Hwang Jin-hyun Invitational Exhibition," runs from June 18 to June 23. For more information, call (02) 724-6328.

By Jean Oh

(oh_jean@heraldm.com)


2008.06.18