Price
₩1,400,000
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.
Sanctuary of Prayer
Lee Yuji
About the Artist
Lee Yuji is a painter who unfolds the landscapes of deep inner consciousness and the sentiments of longing through painting. After graduating from the Department of Western Painting at Suwon University, she completed her M.A. at Kookmin University. Her many solo exhibitions include 〈Where Wishes Linger and Rise Again〉 at Art Boda Gallery (2025), 〈Karma Dice〉 at Seoun Gallery in Ganghwa's Jeondeungsa Temple (2025), 〈Party of Wishes〉 at The Squares Gallery (2024), and 〈Landscape of the Abyss〉 at Sai Art Document (2017). She received the Excellence Award at the 〈Artist of Tomorrow〉 competition by the Gyeomjae Jeong Seon Museum of Art (2024). Her works are held in the collections of the Gyeomjae Jeong Seon Museum of Art, the Seoul Culture Headquarters Museum, and the Hana Bank Art Bank.
Artist Statement
My work speaks of landscapes of refuge. The Sanctuary of Yearning series carries the feelings of recollection, hope, and purification. I see yearning (念願) as a latent energy, a primal force that draws toward the moment of healing, and I explore that force in the language of painting. I have named the journey of accumulating good karma and reaching liberation through the power of yearning "Karmadise."
The wishes within the heart linger in the sanctuary of yearning, are purified there, and once again move toward the light. I bring the time of recovery into painting, and as one passes through that place and returns to life, one gains a new breath. I express a space of protection in which one can quietly catch one's breath between unsteady, wavering feelings and the wishes one longs to reach. The repeating forms and the rhythm of flowing lines visualize the faint vibration of hope within inner chaos, and I call this a "shamanic sanctuary." This goes beyond simple expression — it carries a sacred force that liberates the inner self and revives vitality.
The motifs in the work are made up of metaphorical symbols of healing. Tangled threads appear as healing threads stitching up the wounds born from memories of my late father, and the layered brushwork represents accumulated memory and the process of practice. Drawing on Didier Anzieu's concept of the "psychic envelope (Psychic Envelope)," I tried to embody an inner protective skin that wraps around like our outer skin. My work, where skeins of thread combine with shamanic symbols, makes visible the power held in the form of belief, and the canvas is transformed into a refined sacred object that filters out negative energies.
Using oil paint and fluorescent pigments, I stage a visual paradise that glows under light, painting ideal worlds such as "Sanctuary of Yearning," "Guardian Tree," and "Lucid Dream." For me, art is a single ray of light in a dark world, and life itself. As a landscape of the unconscious and a space of protection, I pray that it may quiet anxious states of mind and that everyone may meet a moment in which they can breathe.
Key Career Highlights
Related materials
Magazine
Karmadise, Where Good Karma Gathers: Lee Yuji's Shelter of Wishes
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May 2, 2026 · Seed Art Festival
Price
₩1,400,000
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.