Jongmin
Born in 1991 in the city of Gumi-Si, I went on to attend and graduate from Gimcheon High School of Arts in 2010. Landing in America in 2014.
The
vast majority of my acquaintances say with one voice that I showed a
great talent for art since I was a little boy. My family was so poor
that both my parents were busy working all day. So I was raised by other
people. I was told by those who raised me that I was welcomed by anyone
since I was well behaved as long as I had stuffs to draw such as crayon
and paints. That was the beginning of my passion for drawing and even
after I entered an elementary school, the passion still continued. The
ability for drawing enabled me to easily make new friends at school and
even to have fans of my drawing. Then, I started drawing cartoons as a
way of entertaining my friends. Cartoon drawing proved so effective that
even students of other classes came to see my cartoons. The crowds were
so huge that I had to invent a little game on my notebook for those who
waited for their turn to see cartoons. The gimmick also earned me a lot
of money. Some students wanted to have my drawing on their sports
uniform. I became better and better at drawing cartoons as the number of
students wanting my drawing increased. Eventually, my homeroom teacher
created an art club when I was a fourth grade of elementary school.
Since then, I was able to make use of various art materials to create
quality arts. By the time I reached the age of puberty, I became
interested in music and sports, which naturally led to the encounter
with street arts such as African-American culture symbolized by hip-hop.
Then, I entered a high school of the arts. The environment in high
school was completely different than what I expected. Most of the arts
high schools in Korea were focused on getting students to go to an art
college. So I wasn’t allowed to do what I wanted. In fact, it was common
for most students to become sort of a drawing machine that churned out
drawings just like learning language by rote. And eventually, they came
to lose their own colors in arts. This meant that the imagination and
creativity of students were all controlled by school. After all, I came
to neglect school life, paying little attention to my classes, which
made my parents extremely disappointed. Soon, they decided to send me to
Europe.
In
Europe, I was unfamiliar with everything including ethnicity, language
and culture and I was scared of them. But it didn’t take me long to get
accustomed to the new environment. Luckily, I had a chance to go
backpacking for a month with an old man who had worked as a journalist
for about 20 years. As he knew that I majored in arts the destinations
of our trip were mostly attractions related to arts. The encounters with
numerous arts in Europe rekindled my enthusiasm for arts, which was
rooted deep inside my heart. After I went back to Korea I worked harder
on painting than ever before. I was able to work with various interior
design companies. Then, I wanted to broaden my career to engage in new
areas. That led me to learning another major, video arts, at new
college. During the years of the college, my life was filled with
thrill. I made experimental videos and short films with my friends.
Then, I had to take time off from school to go into the service.
However, I had a good opportunity to postpone enlisting in the army. I
took the opportunity to set up a clothing store which was a kind of
complex art place where anyone can come to enjoy their time. While I was
running the store I was able to challenge and learn things that I had
never tried before, including tattoos. Later, I joined the army in which
I spent many hours thinking about how to further arts in a complex way.
Eventually, I made a conclusion that all kinds of arts came from fine
art. So I went to America that I believed was an ideal place to meet
with various people in the world of arts right after I was discharged
from military service.