Jeong Zik Seong introduces herself as “a Korean female artist with 22 years of experience and mother of three children.” She sometimes describes herself as a painter who is centered in Seoul and Gyeonggi and often travels to Jeju Island back and forth. Despite her humble and somewhat dry introduction, she has built herself quite a loyal fan base.

Jeong graduated from the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National University and completed a doctoral program at the same university. Later on, she gained fame for her paintings depicting working-class residential areas and labor sites. In 2006, she won the Gana Art Gallery New Artist Award then went on to receive the Today’s Young Artist Award 2012 from the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. She was awarded the Today’s Artist Award of 2012 by the Kim Chong Yung Museum and became the Selected Painter for Chong Kun Dang Art Financial Support in 2021. Her works are in the collections of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, the Seoul Museum of Art, Hyundai Motor Company, and many others.

Jeong’s subject matter frequently centered on the life of the working class in works like “Semidetached Houses,” “Constructive Abstract Construction Site Abstract,” and “Blue Collar_Blue Color.” Jeong stated, “My overall life experience, such as moving houses forty-three times, is the foundation for my paintings. I used geometric abstraction and monochrome hues to depict such experience in allegorical meta-painting.”

Jeong has recently been trying out a new method. Borrowing the technique of mother-of-pearl lacquerware, Jeong cuts out pieces of thinly ground seashells, which are meticulously glued and put together to create a painting. Jeong also illustrates other Korean cultural symbols like the Four Gracious Plants.

Jeong’s artworks, which will be featured in this year’s Kiaf SEOUL 2023 HIGHLIGHT, can be divided into two categories. Jeong states, “The first category depicts the wind that blows over the city overpass as a dragon, while the second category mainly depicts the bamboo, one of the Four Gracious Plants, emphasizing how the Jeju wind flows, and the magnolia with energetic brushstrokes to capture its energy when it blooms in spring.”

Jeong remains true to realistic and intuitive depiction yet also pursues a multi-layered format, maintaining a connection to art history. This is her strength and hallmark as an artist. This accomplishment was made possible due to Jeong’s continuous efforts to create art despite the difficulties full-time artists often experience, such as irregular income. According to Jeong, she continued to because it was an art form of spiritual and ethical value, the curiosity and vocational calling for painting her drivers.

Jeong will continue to pursue innovative and advanced forms of painting. “I don’t want to be constrained by the binary of representation or abstraction when I paint. What I want to draw are liberating and intuitive paintings that depict our lives,” Jeong said, adding, “I hope my art can resonate with the audience.”

Studio_Zikseong JEONG