People in the Arts: Han Heewon
Interview by Jennis Kang.
To enter my drawing room,
I pass through four doors:
the door to the dark stairs,
the iron door to the hall,
the door to my room,
And the studio door.
When I paint, I close all the doors.
Sometimes I think no one would even know
if I were to die within these four doors.
(From The Diary of Living Alone)
This is a poem by Han Heewon, an artist living in Gwangju’s Yangnim-dong. I went to visit his private art museum one rainy day. The public library was closed due to COVID-19, and his art gallery was also closed. If you follow the alleyway past the Lee Jang-woo House, an old hanok in Yangnim-dong, you will find Han Heewon’s art museum. Yangnim-dong remains a quiet, old sight. When I arrived in front of the museum, the entrance caught my eye. The gate was made of old, metal scaffolding flooring such as that once used when constructing buildings.
In the 1960s and 1970s, it was difficult to build many needed bridges, so people erected wooden scaffolding to serve as bridges, such as the one across the upper reaches of the Gwangju Stream. This Ppong-ppong Bridge (뽕뽕다리) did not have a solid bottom to walk on. When I was young, I remember crossing the shaking bridge with my hand firmly in my mother’s. I was probably about three or four years old at the time, and I still remember seeing the water below through the large holes built into the metal flooring in the scaffolding that I was gingerly walking on. This still remains as a fear of mine. Han Heewon related to me that he built his museum gate with flooring for scaffolding to retain memories of the old Gwangju Stream, and he told me a great deal more in my interview with him.
Jennis Kang: Your paintings are like poetry. I feel the wind blowing over the blurred boundaries in your paintings. Refined grief. I wonder where that sadness came from. People say that the lives they live are with the character formed in their childhood, so I wonder what your childhood was like.
Han Heewon: Musicians make music using the same notes, but we can discern that some music is Tchaikovsky’s and another is Beethoven’s. I do not know. People say that they feel pathos in my paintings. I once tried to paint with bright colors. It looked bright in my eyes, but people said that there was fundamental sadness in it. Maybe it is just what suits me. Each person has a different originality.
During the interview, I learned that Han Heewon’s parents were from a devout Christian family, and his father had attended Pyongyang Soongsil University as one of the first students of Dr. Yang Ju-dong. “Oh, Dr. Yang Ju-dong! What a special memory,” Han interjected. “Yang was the one who wrote the Korean dictionary that I used throughout my elementary school days. I remember the name ‘Yang Ju-dong’ was imprinted in gold letters on a black cover.”
After graduating from university in North Korea, Han’s father came to South Korea to work as a teacher. Born in Songjeong-ri as a late child, Han followed his father from workplace to workplace in various small towns in Jeollanam-do: from Naju, to Gwangyang, to Hampyeong, and Damyang. Even after entering elementary school, he moved from school to school at least once a year. He told me that he could not make friends and had no opportunity to play spin-the-top or marbles.
Jennis: So, you missed out on the primary right of children: all play and no work. Do you have any memorable episodes from those days?
Han Heewon: Yes, it was when my father was working as the principal of Gwangyang Technical High School. We lived in school housing with a big garden. One day, my sister and I, just the two of us, were left alone, as my parents disappeared for days. The sudden absence of our sole care-providers gave me quite a shock. Later, it turned out that my father needed emergency surgery, and my mother stayed at the hospital to take care of him. After recovering, my father bought a house in Yangnim-dong and made sure that I no longer had to move from school to school as he worked at a small school in the countryside. From that time, I could see my parents only three or four times a year since my mother always stayed with my father to take care of him.
Jennis: I see. How was your life in Yangnim-dong as a teenager?
Han Heewon: I was able to make some friends. Unlike my older brothers and sisters who studied well, I immersed myself in reading novels about martial arts. I loved them so much that my dream was to be like Bruce Lee. In high school, I joined the taekwondo club and got a black belt by the time I graduated. My father passed away at that time.
Jennis: Oh, I am so sorry. How did someone who wanted to be like Bruce Lee wind up going to art school?
Han Heewon: Though I did not study hard during my teen years, I wanted to go to college. So, I took the entrance exams for three years in a row. During the second year of preparing for the entrance exam, I fell in love with writing poetry. When I was 20, I read a lot of poetry and wrote a lot, too. When I was preparing for the third exam, my sister recommended that I study painting. Maybe she recognized a hidden talent that I was not aware of. I started going to Baek-je Art Academy, which was run by Oh Seung-yoon, one of Korea’s most famous painters, and this led to me entering art school at Chosun University. From then on, I thought painting would become my life. The two loves that I had been immersed in, poetry and taekwondo, provided a strong foundation for my painting.
Jennis: Poetry and taekwondo – you said these two things were the basis for your paintings. Poetry is understandable, but how can taekwondo impact your paintings?
Han Heewon: When you look at taekwondo, the movements are like a beautiful dance. Painting is also a connection between fast and slow moments. People call it the power of painting. The rhythm of painting is very similar to that of taekwondo.
Jennis: Wow. So, your former experiences had a big influence on your paintings. After graduation, you worked as an art teacher at several schools. When did you have your first solo exhibition?
Han Heewon: I held my first exhibition in an art gallery 14 years after my graduation. But actually, I went to the people with my visiting exhibitions. I thought that people who could not visit an art space such as an art museum or a gallery should be given a chance to experience paintings. So, I held exhibitions at marketplaces in Gurye, Gwangyang, Suncheon, and on a river bank on the outskirts of Suncheon.
Jennis: I read some newspaper articles about your first solo exhibition. One described your works as being so lyrical that they are somewhere between art and literature. I also felt that I was being told a story through your paintings. When did you decide to become a full-time artist?
Han Heewon: After my first solo exhibition in 1993, galleries flooded me with exhibition offers and many people inquired about my paintings. So, I quit teaching and focused on painting. That was in February 1997, and in October of that year, the Asian Financial Crisis hit Korea. My wife had to close her bookstore, and I became a truly full-time artist.
Jennis: Yangnim-dong, your “hometown” in Gwangju, has become an art street of the city that I would like for you to introduce to our readers. I heard that you played a big role in changing part of the Yangnim-dong area into an art street.
Han Heewon: Yangnim-dong is where many artists have lived. World-famous composers like Jeong Il-sung, Jeong Chu, and Jeong Geun, and poets like Kim Hyun-seung and Lee Soo-bok, as well as writers like Moon Soon-tae and Jo So-hye were born and have lived in Yangnim-dong. I thought that Yangnim-dong should retain its rich scent of art. I wanted to share the inner artistry of Yangnim-dong through literature and art exhibitions. So, I started to hold the Yangnim Festival by putting up posters by myself. The “Hello, Yangnim” Festival started with the support of the Nam-gu District Office, and I have been serving as chairman of the festival for the past ten years. My hope was that Yangnim-dong would not become too commercial.
Jennis: When and where is the “Hello, Yangnim” Festival held?
Han Heewon: The “Hello, Yangnim” Festival, which is normally held in October, is an autumn humanities festival. It brings an artistic sense to visitors with various contents in Yangnim-dong and Sajik Park. Sadly, we will not be holding the “Hello, Yangnim” Festival this fall because of COVID-19. Instead, another art festival will be held in the area – the Yangnim Alley Biennale, which runs from September 25 to December 31 this year, exhibiting works of Gwangju artists in cafes, restaurants, and other places wishing to become art spaces throughout the neighborhood. More than 18 cafes and restaurants will participate in displaying the works of 13 local artists throughout their establishments, and social distancing will be incorporated.
Jennis: When did you open the Han Heewon Museum of Art, which is one of the art spaces in the Yangnim Alley Biennale?
Han Heewon: In 2015, the Han Heewon Museum of Art was opened. It is a small art museum, but it is a place that two prime ministers have visited, and we have hundreds of visitors every day. More than 200,000 people have visited so far.
Jennis: I heard that you spent nearly a year in the European country of Georgia last year. Why did you decide to make that sudden move?
Han Heewon: I wrote columns in newspapers for over ten years, and I worked as the chairman of the World Swimming Competition’s cultural events committee. One day, I thought to myself that while I was getting more and more accolades, I was feeling more emptiness as an artist. A friend of mine who runs a travel agency in Georgia suggested that I stay at an accommodation in Tbilisi, the capital. So, I went and stayed there about ten months. My life of isolation started in a land where I could not communicate. After a couple of months, I felt like I were being strangled day after day. Because there was no one whom I could talk to, I just spent my time painting and writing poetry. Every afternoon, I walked and walked so much that I wore my shoes out. While there, I painted 360 works in ten months.
Jennis: Wow, 360 works! That is a huge number! How did you get them back to Korea?
Han Heewon: It was not easy to take the artwork out of Georgia, so I painted acrylic on paper instead of oil on canvas. I sometimes sent pictures to Korea with my acquaintances who visited me in Tbilisi. They carried my paintings in their suitcases. Before I came back to Korea, my family also came to Tbilisi and carried back various pieces in their trunks.
Jennis: Recently, I bought and read your book, “Sketches of a Foreigner.” So, you published the book as soon as you returned from Tbilisi?
Han Heewon: Yes, I published my first collection of poems and artwork after 50 years as a poet and 45 years as an artist. I had lived as a stranger in Tbilisi, Georgia, and my poems and artwork were my only conversation partner. My previous works are also included in the book.
Jennis: Your career is a series of dramatic changes. Where do you think that “force” comes from?
Han Heewon: I think my life has been a series of choices, as it is for others. Quitting work as a teacher and becoming a full-time artist, opening the “Hello, Yangnim” Festival and the Museum of Art, leaving for Tbilisi, publishing a book… Actually, I do not think ahead too much or worry about my future. That might be the “force” that leads to the changes in my life.
The Interviewee
Han Heewon majored in Western painting at Chosun University, participated in more than 50 individual exhibitions and a number of group exhibitions. He opened the Han Heewon Museum of Art in 2015 and is the head of the “Hello, Yangnim” Festival Committee.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2015 UNESCO World Headquarters Exhibition (Paris)
2014 Korean Art Show (Soho, New York)
2011 Invitation Exhibition (Korean Embassy Cultural Center, London)
2009 Arko Museum of Art Exhibition (Istanbul)
2007 Hwarang Art Festival (COEX, Seoul)
2007 New York Art Expo (Javits Convention Center, NYC)
Han Heewon Museum of Art
Location: 27-6 Yangchon-gil, Nam-gu, Gwangju
광주광역시 남구 양촌길 27-6
Open: 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. (Closed Mondays)
The Interviewer
Kang “Jennis” Hyunsuk is a freelance English tutor and once-in-a-while interpreter. She worked for the Asia Culture Center during its opening season and likes to grow greens and walk her dog.