From October 15 to 28, Ohmi Gallery (2F, Maru Art Center, Insadong-gil 35-6) presents a solo exhibition by Jang Seok-won, a Korean painter whose vivid colors and philosophical humor reveal both outrage and reflection.

“When an incident breaks out, there’s almost nothing an artist can do,” Jang confesses. “But anger remains—and from that helplessness, I can’t help but pick up the brush.”

That anger took form in his latest work, Hypocrite Trump — a visual indictment of political deceit and profit-driven international order. 

“It was inspired by the September raid led by the U.S. ICE at Hyundai and LG battery factories in Georgia,” Jang explains. “They arrested 300 Korean workers under the guise of an immigration crackdown. The piece is about my outrage toward a world that chains humans in the name of capital.”

Yet Jang’s canvases are not confined to rage. The recurring figure of “The Fool”—a motif he has explored for decades—stands on the opposite side of that emotion.

“The most foolish face,” he says, “is really our own. Everyone can draw it, and everyone can find themselves within it.”

For Jang, The Fool symbolizes the unconscious—the raw, unguarded self freed from the calculations of the world. “Modern people live tangled in endless interests,” he explains. “We’ve become prisoners of appearance, forgetting who we truly are.”

To him, art is a form of meditation—a journey inward to recover one’s lost face.

“When you stand in front of a painting, don’t try to analyze it,” he advises. “Just look. At some point, you’ll begin to see yourself.”

Jang’s paintings often feature six eyes, overlapping faces, and glowing foreheads, inspired by Buddhist notions of the “eye of truth” and the “eye of the heart.”

“Everyone has more than one eye,” he says. “Beyond the physical, there’s the eye that perceives the world’s essence. When that vision clears, light begins to appear.”

In a world captivated by technology, Jang chooses a different path. “Many artists blend AI with their work,” he acknowledges, “but I want to go the other way. I want to hold on to what’s primal—to the human trace, to the warmth of emotion.”

His brushwork remains bold yet tender, filled with gestures that recall both play and pain. “I want to paint with the eyes of a child,” he says. “Pure, transparent emotions—that’s where art truly begins.”

When asked about the dominance of the art market, Jang is resolute.

“The market’s power is overwhelming,” he admits, “but real artists don’t follow it. Chasing trends will never create great art.”

He often reminds his students: “Protect your own gaze. Don’t lose it to the noise of the world.”

“Art,” he concludes, “is about returning to your true place. If you don’t lose that, it doesn’t matter how much the world changes.”

The exhibition also features a live performance titled I Like Yellow, staged on October 16, where Jang’s comic sensibility met sharp social commentary.

 The opening included a guest performance by pioneering experimental artist Sung Neung-kyung, offering an engaging dialogue between two generations of Korean avant-garde art.

As a painter who once studied under and collaborated with Korea’s first-generation experimental artists, Jang has continued to build a practice that bridges inner consciousness and social contradiction.

His ongoing “Fool” and “Hypocrite” series explore the fragile moral balance of contemporary humanity—the tension between deception and innocence, chaos and clarity.