Price
₩3,000,000
A unique original — the only one in the world
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.
Symbol of Memory
Min JeongSee
- Category
- Painting
- Material
- Acrylic painting
- Size
- 65.5×53cm · Size 15 · Medium How big is this? →
- Year
- 2026
- Price
- ₩3,000,000
- Availability
- For sale
About the Artist
MinjeongSee is a printmaker and drawing artist who critically explores the surface and disguise of contemporary society through the materiality of 'plastic.' She graduated from the Department of Printmaking at Hongik University and received her M.F.A. in Printmedia from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Her many solo exhibitions include Plastic Society I at Gallery AG (2014), Plastic Promise at Youngeun Museum (2016), and Representation After Light at Seoripul Hyu Gallery (2024). She was selected as a Zoom-In artist at the 2025 Korea Galleries Art Fair. Her works are held at the SOMA Museum Drawing Center, Youngeun Museum, Frans Masereel Centrum (Belgium), Purdue University (USA), and the John Flaxman Artist Book Collection.
Artist Statement
I am very interested in the inner things shaped by the urban environment—personal thought, feeling, psychology. I think about what surrounds us excessively, what we keep consuming, physically and mentally, as a matter of course. For a while, that took the form of allegorical images about the urban environment and the choices of capitalism in printmaking; for a while it was video installation, focused on the keyword plastic, working on the urban environment. More recently, as an extension of that, I have been working on memory and the images of representation newly made within it. The work is about the memory of a moment when, as if light enters a once-dark space and shadows flicker, the everyday space comes alive together with the light. There are moments that feel like a wind that, in an instant, transforms the air of an ordinary day, like the manifestation of light penetrating from outside in. As, behind a reality where nothing seems likely to change easily, an inner self exists that is endlessly responsive and pulsing, light shines on a space, makes color, and breathes life (breath) into it. I draw the daily memory of light meeting darkness, the light I face every day. Like an act of prayer, drawing memories of light—I draw with the wish to give light to the dark conditions of war and the many such places.
My work uses a range of media—painting, drawing, printmaking, video, installation—and I sometimes work with experts from other fields, such as performance and music. The choice of medium for a work is decided by my subjective judgment of what fits the picture of the whole work that speaks to and recalls the theme. This time, in which countless images pour out every day, used easily and discarded easily—a fast-changing time in which an eternal cannot be spoken of—also affects my choice of medium. Most of my work is not work that remains forever but work made with the one-off quality of a contemporary happening; rather than the stability and weight of something to grasp, it shows the present time and image as a light moment. This is in line with the things vanishing within the swift flow of the city.
Key Career Highlights
Related materials
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.
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
Min Jung-See: A Free Exploration Between Color and Form
Min Jung-See begins with plastic — the surface beauty of contemporary society and the emptiness beneath. Works across printmaking, painting, installation, video.
Apr 8, 2026 · Seed Art Festival
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.
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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.