Meet the Artist
Stories behind the artists and their works
Behind every artwork is a life of decisions. SAF 2026 brings together 213 Korean artists who chose to put their work into a mutual-aid campaign for fellow artists. Their interviews, studio notes, and reflections give you the context that turns a passing glance into a lasting connection with a piece.
Korean contemporary artist interviews often live behind academic prose. The SAF magazine asks simpler questions in the artists’ own words, so first-time visitors can build a real sense of who made the work — and why.
Every featured artist is a “solidarity artist”: they donated work knowing the proceeds would fund low-interest loans for peers excluded from primary banking (84.9% of Korean artists). Their stories are personal, but they also reveal the structural reality of Korean art-making.
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Stories in this category
Choi Byung-soo: A Painter Made by a Line on a Police Report
Choi Byung-soo was a carpenter until police wrote "painter" in the occupation box. From the 1987 banner for Lee Han-yeol to ice-penguin performances, a guide to a self-taught artist.
Kwon Soon-chul: A Painter Who Went to Paris Looking for Good Faces
Born in 1944 in Changwon and living in Paris since 1989, Kwon Soon-chul has never stopped painting Korean faces. A guide to his Faces and Souls series and his three works at SAF.
Park Mun-jong: The Painter Who Farms His Pictures
Park Mun-jong moved to Damyang in 1997 and has painted the way he farms ever since. A guide to the ink painter of South Jeolla, from the first class of Yeonjinhoe to the Heo Baek-ryeon Art Prize.
Hong Seon-ung: The Woodcut Artist Who Wrote the History of Korean Modern Prints
Hong Seon-ung carved woodblocks at the heart of the 1980s Minjung art movement, then wrote the first comprehensive history of Korean modern printmaking in 2014. A guide to an artist who both cut and chronicled.
Kim Sang-gu: Fifty Years of Woodcuts Titled by Number
Kim Sang-gu has cut woodblocks since 1976, titling each work with a number instead of a name. A guide to the printmaker whose works reached the British Museum.
Han Ae-gyu: Processions of Women in Clay, Facing the Road North
Han Ae-gyu shapes women in unglazed terracotta hardened by fire. A guide to the procession series she began in 2016 and the northern road it faces.
Park Heung-soon: The Painter of the Fallen Boxer
Park Heung-soon co-founded the Minjung art collective Imsulnyeon in 1982 and has painted fallen boxers ever since. A guide to his work and the two pieces he offered to the Seed Art Festival.
Yoo Dae-soo: Thirty Years of Woodblock Prints from Jeonju
Born in Jeonju, trained in printmaking at Hongik and in cultural anthropology back home, Yoo Dae-soo returned to the carving knife after a decade as a curator. A guide to his woodblock prints.
Park Jin-hwa: The Brush That Weeps for Others, from Jangheung to Bolumdo
Born in Jangheung in 1957, Park Jin-hwa took up the brush again as a Minjung artist in 1984 and has painted division from a studio within sight of the DMZ. A guide to his work.
Son Ki-hwan: Forty-five Years to a Prize, Division Carved in the Language of Comics
Son Ki-hwan won the 11th Park Soo-keun Art Prize in 2026. A guide to his woodcuts and pop paintings on division, and the three works he offered to the Seed Art Festival.
Lee Tae-ho: Carving Faces in Woodblock, Pasting Them on the Street
Lee Tae-ho carves the faces of poet Kim Soo-young, labor martyr Jeon Tae-il and singer Kim Min-ki into woodblocks, then pastes the prints on crowded alleys like street bills. A guide to a printmaker who moved the medium out of the gallery.
Kim Jin-yeol: Erase the Face and the Body Comes Alive
For forty years in Wonju, Kim Jin-yeol has painted the neighbors passing through the bus terminal — erasing their faces so that their bodies, and their dignity, come through.
From a Factory Floor Mat: Lee Yunyeop's Dispatched Art
His first print, in 1996, was a neighbouring farmer's face. Lee Yunyeop began by carving factory floor matting with a knife, and calls himself a dispatched artist — cutting blocks at Daechuri, Yongsan and the Hope Bus. Nine works at SAF 2026.
Built to Wilt: Park Sohyung's Impermanent Forms
Park Sohyung works across Seoul, Boston and New York, joining discarded byproducts with natural material to build forms that do not last — and carrying the cardboard of her sculpture into the surface of a painting. Three works at SAF 2026.
Artist and Patron: A Dialogue That Started with One Artwork
Buying an artwork is not just a transaction between seller and buyer. Over time, it becomes a relationship between two people. Two years of conversations between an artist and a patron who met through SAF.
Artists Working Outside Seoul: The Regional Art Scene
There's a bias that 90% of Korean art happens in Seoul. But brushes move every day in studios across Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Jeju, and Gangwon. The lives of artists working outside Seoul.
A Roundtable with Five Women Artists
Artists are not born with a gender, but life places gender's weight differently. A roundtable with five women artists who endured the triangle of childcare, livelihood, and creation.
Studio Visit: A Day in the Life of SAF Artists
The deepest path to understanding an artist's work is the studio. We visit the studios of SAF artists and document how their days unfold.
Climbing to Photograph: The World of Kang Lea
Climbing mountains and taking photographs — Kang Le-a walks the boundary between mountaineering and contemporary photography. We trace how the narratives of climbing, alpinism, and women climbers become photographic records, and what her work means in art history.
Lee Yun-yop — A "Dispatched Artist," Carving the Texture of Labor in Multi-Color Woodblock
Lee Yun-yop, master of Korean multi-color woodblock. "Dispatched artist" activist, industrial rubber matting medium, farmer/worker motifs, MMCA collection — with 5 curated picks.
Lee Cheol-soo — From Minjung Woodblock to the Woodblock of Zen, One Texture of Korean Printmaking
Lee Cheol-soo (b. 1954), master of Korean woodblock. 30-year evolution from 1980s minjung woodblock to Zen, spirituality, and peace. Farming and woodblock practice in Jecheon — with 5 curated picks.
Park Jae-dong — The Father of Korean Editorial Cartooning, and the World Beyond the Daily Comic
Park Jae-dong (b. 1952), the father of Korean editorial cartooning. Eight years at the Hankyoreh, Reality and Utterance collective, and a practice integrating painting, animation, and teaching — with 5 curated picks.
After Forty — How Oh Yoon Arrives Again, From July 1986 to April 2026
He died at forty in 1986. Ten years later, seven people gathered to issue the first — and only — posthumous print edition of his work. The painter who never priced a single print in his lifetime had his prints marked, signed, and closed by his peers after his death. As 2026 marks the fortieth anniversary, Oh Yoon arrives again. Series 1 of a posthumous-print market analysis.
Oh Yoon's Song of the Blade (1985) — A Single-Work Reading
32.2x25.5cm. A single woodblock cut one year before his death. What was Oh Yoon's *Song of the Blade* (1985) singing? A 30-minute deep read of a single work — from the Donghak sword dance to the posthumous print market.
Total 195 stories
Frequently asked questions
Q. Who are the SAF artists?
SAF 2026 brings together 110+ Korean contemporary artists across painting, print, photography, sculpture, and digital art — from emerging artists to recognized masters. All voluntarily contributed works to address financial discrimination against fellow artists.
Q. Who conducts the artist interviews?
The SAF magazine editorial team meets each artist directly. We aim to reduce the formal distance of museum catalogs and academic writing, letting the artists describe their practice and daily studio life in their own words.
Q. How can I buy work by a specific artist I read about?
Click the artist name in the interview to reach the artist page. All available works, biography, and other magazine features are gathered there — and any work can be purchased directly. SAF is artist-direct: no gallery markup.
Q. Does the artist actually receive the proceeds?
The majority of sales proceeds go directly to the artist. A portion contributes to the artist mutual-aid fund, providing low-interest loans (5% APR, 95% repayment rate) to artists facing financial discrimination. One purchase supports both an artist and the broader Korean art ecosystem.
Q. How often are new artist interviews published?
New interviews are added at a pace of 1–2 per month. Recent additions appear at the top of the magazine and category pages. RSS and newsletter subscriptions are available.
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213 artists, artworks available online.