Price
₩600,000
Art protects art
8 out of 10
artists are shut out by banks
354
loans extended to fellow artists
95%
repayment rate — trust comes full circle
~KRW 140M
interest saved vs. predatory rates
Until the next exhibition, the next performance. For artists, income gaps are an unavoidable reality. For fellow artists forced into predatory loans just to afford paint, canvas, and studio rent, proceeds from this artwork become the Seed Fund — extending a fair hand at fair rates.
Voices of fellow artists
“The memory of going hungry for three days, alone, so my children wouldn't know.”
— 50s, theater artist
“I've been putting off urgent dental treatment because I can't afford it. I should be seeing a doctor regularly, but enduring instead of going has become a habit.”
— 50s, actor
“I kept delaying ear treatment because I had no money, and the symptoms in both ears worsened.”
— 30s, musician
“I couldn't pay my hospitalized mother's bills, so we had to delay her discharge, and she had to give up tests and treatment she needed.”
— 50s, actor/broadcaster
“Because of money troubles I had nowhere to go — drifting between gosiwon rooms and rehearsal studios, and for a while sleeping rough.”
— 30s, musician
“Because of unpaid rent, my collective was forced to vacate our shared workspace and home. Neither bank loans nor artist loans could help.”
— 50s, actor
“Without money, life collapses — and creating art? Out of the question.”
— 50s, artist
“It's painful that solving this month's money problems has to come before the work itself. As an artist, I can only earn well when the work succeeds — yet I have to chase odd jobs every month instead. It feels like being trapped in a vicious cycle.”
— 40s, musician
“Debt collection calls disrupted my rehearsals and performances, and the psychological burden made every day painful and the next day frightening.”
— 40s, theater artist
“Many times the loan payments looming each month forced me to step away from performing and focus on part-time work.”
— 50s, actor
“Sleeping less than four hours a night, juggling part-time jobs and theater — but the more I performed, the more debt piled up. Eventually I decided to quit performing.”
— 30s, actor
“When things were hardest, I couldn't even attend close friends' weddings or funerals — and as a result, relationships were severed.”
— 50s, actor/broadcaster
“When I said I was a stage actor, the loan officer called me "unemployed."”
— 50s, actor
“The shame and severed friendships that came with borrowing from people I knew, the pressure of failing to pay it back, the helplessness.”
— 50s, cartoonist/visual artist
“Even with programs meant for low-income citizens, I feel shame when I can't produce enough documentation simply because I'm an artist.”
— 30s, film/broadcasting professional
One artwork becomes the oxygen that keeps a fellow artist creating.
Sales proceeds go to the artist mutual-aid fund.
Shape of the Heart #1
Jeong Seoon
- Category
- Painting
- Material
- Graphite powder and pigment on jangji
- Size
- 32×40cm · Size 6 · Small How big is this? →
- Year
- 2025
- Price
- ₩600,000
- Availability
- For sale
About the Artist
Jeong Seoon (b. 1984) earned her B.F.A. in Painting from Daegu University and its graduate school in 2009, and has been actively working in the field of contemporary art. While she began her career based in Daegu, she has broadly expanded her artistic world both domestically and internationally. She began her first creative residency at Yeongcheon Creative Studio in 2009, and from 2013 to 2017 and again in 2020, she lived in Berlin, participating in various exhibitions and projects. In 2023 and 2024, she held solo exhibitions in Daegu and Pohang, continuing to present new works and sustain her creative and exhibition activities. Jeong Seoon's artistic world centers on the form of the 'house' as a medium to explore the relationships between space, objects, and the connections between human beings and the world. Her work extends beyond physical space to address mental space, offering viewers new insights into existence and relationships through depth of thought and original perspective.
Artist Statement
Jung Seo-on expresses the distance of relationships and the density of feeling through the form of houses. The houses on the surface face one another, or stand close together while gazing in different directions. Set within simple geometric shapes, these houses settle into quiet poses — staying, or seeming about to leave. The space within them is not actual but an inner landscape, functioning like a map laid out along the flow of emotion. These houses are places of the heart that each of us has passed through at some point, and quiet metaphors that hold the narratives of our relationships.
Key Career Highlights
Related materials
ONTPIA · Original Korean article
This article text is currently available in Korean. Open the source to read the original version.
Korean media · Original Korean article
This article text is currently available in Korean. Open the source to read the original version.
Korean media · Original Korean article
This article text is currently available in Korean. Open the source to read the original version.
Korean media · Original Korean article
This article text is currently available in Korean. Open the source to read the original version.
Magazine
SAF Painters — From Korean Painting to Abstraction
The 40+ painters of SAF 2026, read across six lineages — from Reality and Utterance founders to KAIST-trained painters, Brussels sculpture MFAs, and Goryeo-Buddhist-painting masters.
Apr 20, 2026 · Seed Art Festival
Contemporary Art Pricing — Artist, Medium, Size, Date: 4 Factors of Korean Art Market
“Is this price fair?” The question every buyer asks. To answer it you need to understand the four forces that set art prices: artist, medium, size, and date.
May 2, 2026 · Seed Art Festival
Art Gifts for Newborns and First Birthdays — A Keepsake That Grows Up Too
Baby clothes shrink in a year; toys barely make two. A gift that grows up with the child — how to choose art for newborns, 100-day celebrations, and first birthdays.
Apr 21, 2026 · Seed Art FestivalOther works by Jeong Seoon
View All
More Painting Artworks
View all Painting
Price
₩600,000
Two beginnings made by one piece
- For you —
- One-of-a-kind in the world
- For the artist —
- the pride of standing with a peer
- For a fellow artist —
- a new ₩3,000,000 path of low-interest support
354 artists have walked this path of recovery; 95% returned to open it for the next.