10 Questions with Jin Kyeong An

An Jin Kyeong was born in Busan, Korea, in 1990. Influenced by her mother, she inherited her artistic talents and liked to paint. As a child, she received a general education, but it was in middle school in 2005 when she began painting in earnest. It is said that the reason why An Jin Kyeong first drew was that art was so good. Her mother discovered her talent and encouraged her to study art, a field she had only explored since birth.

Since middle school, An Jin Kyeong has challenged numerous art contests and built an award-winning career. She dreamed of becoming an artist after taking a trip to Europe in high school in 2007. Looking around at many countries, such as Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Japan, she learned about painting from famous artists and dreamed of becoming the world's best artist by visiting the world's most renowned art museums.

In 2009, artist An Jin Kyeong majored in Oriental art at the Korea Art University. When it comes to work, it has the charm of capturing the eyes of visitors with its primitive colours and simple form that evokes the spirit of Henry Rousseau. Familiar and light colours and forms cross conventional boundaries, harmonising traditional and modern senses. She is now a full-time painter.

An Jin Kyeong is actively displaying her works in India, Europe, the United States, Japan, and China. She has 70 exhibitions and 40 awards at domestic and international art contests. In 2025, she won the Top 60 Masters award, which is given to 60 masters from around the world in Italy. Even now, she continues to strive to become the best artist in the world. She said she would become the best artist and create the best works that would impress people all over the world.

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Go to hope, painting on korea paper, 45.5x53. cm, 2020 © Jin Kyeong An

INTERVIEW

Let’s start from the beginning. Can you tell us about your first memory of painting and when you realised you wanted to follow this career path?

My journey as an artist began at a minor moment in my childhood. For me, painting was not just a play from the beginning, but a way of looking at the world and a language for expressing myself.
From the first moment I put a pencil on a piece of paper, I felt an instinct to capture something 'invisible'. I didn't know what it was then, but over time I came to understand that it was the language of art, the intuition of sight. It wasn't until I was in my teenage years that I decided to take this path in earnest. The fact that I could construct the world from my own perspective, away from the perspective of others, and that it could lead to real communication with others, led me.

How did your mother influence your decision to pursue art, and what role has she played in your creative path?

My mother is an indispensable person in my life in my creative journey. Although my mother did not walk the path of an artist, her love and respect for art were deeply rooted in my senses and spirit. The emotional density and warm insight into humans shown in my work stemmed from my relationship with my mother. Beyond just artistic influence, my mother was a being who made me feel the rhythm of life, the vibration in silence, and the stillness of things. My mother taught me how to live.

Memory, painting on Korean paper, 90.9x72.7 cm, 2020 © Jin Kyeong An

Your travels to Europe during high school seem to have been a turning point. What impact did visiting those museums and countries have on your artistic vision?

The European experience I had in high school was an important opportunity to fundamentally transform my aesthetic sense and art world. I was overwhelmed at the time by the huge visual experience unfolding in front of me, but over time, I began to recall those memories in my work, as I toured the Louvre and the Orsay Museum in Paris, France, the Prague National Gallery in the Czech Republic, and the Hamburg Museum in Germany.
Many works of art and relics I saw at the time were not just appreciated, but also demonstrated how art visualises the times, people, beliefs, and dreams. In particular, the artworks I saw at the Louvre in Paris, France, gave me the dream to become the 'world's best artist,' and they made me think about how to capture the soul through form.

You studied Oriental art at Korea Art University. How has this academic background shaped your work today?

While studying art in Korea, I came to deeply understand the reasons for shaping and philosophy of the East. Oriental art, which I learned in art college, has played a pivotal role in my creative world. While Western visual systems focused on the representation of the outside world, Eastern aesthetics emphasised 'blankness', 'emptiness', and 'stop in motion'. I wanted to create from the balance between these two thoughts.
The banter and smudging, the length of the line and the power of the margin in the ink of oriental painting are connected to the minimal composition that often appears in my work. In other words, I breathe oriental thinking and Western formative language at the same time and pursue the weaving of time and space.

Your work is known for its primitive colours and simple yet powerful forms. What inspires this visual language?

My work is evaluated as "simple but intense," which is also a visual language that I have consistently pursued. Colour is a tool to condense emotions, and form is a means of revealing the essence. I want to restore the most fundamental sense in the complex and excessive times. The belief that I can say more through 'less' made me move.
The reason for choosing the original colour and form is to share the archetypal human emotions, namely anxiety and silence, aspiration and loss, with the audience more directly. This sense comes from nature and from fundamental questions of human existence. The tremors of the wind-shaking leaves, the red light at sunset, the depth of the shadows on the walls. I want to condense those moments and put them on the screen.

Some compare your style to that of Henri Rousseau. Do you feel connected to his work or philosophy in any way?

My paintings are said to be similar to those of French painter Henry Rousseau in the 19th century. Of course, Rousseau was an artist who sincerely expressed his inner world, breaking away from the existing standards of art or art from the institutional sphere. One of the similarities is that I also believed in my inner senses and created according to the rhythm, rather than being swept away by social trends or trends in the art world. I think the reason why my work can be pure art, symbolic, containing the questions of the times, and very personal lies in its essence. Like Rousseau, I work according to rhythm and gaze, and attempting to capture the essence between imagination and reality, reality and dreams may be a creative attitude that Rousseau shares.

The flowering of the nebula, painting on Korean paper, 65.1x53 cm, 2025 © Jin Kyeong An

You’ve had over 70 exhibitions and received 40 awards. Which moment or recognition felt most meaningful to you so far?

So far, I have held more than 70 exhibitions and won 40 domestic and international awards. The moment I felt most meaningful was when I was recognised by the public around the world as "I feel at ease" and "The colour is beautiful."
Of course, the style of painting is important, but art is 'communication'. I think it was a deeper resonance than anything else that when I conveyed them in visual languages, such as unspeakable emotions, the silence of the times, and the shaking of existence, it touched others sincerely. Life as an artist is hard and hard, but I think I was able to draw until now because of such a moment.

How do you balance tradition and modernity in your practice, especially as someone working across different countries and cultures?

One of the most important things I've been working on is 'balance'. Especially for me, who has worked, lived, and lived in various countries and cultures, the balance between 'tradition and modernity' and 'local and global' has always been an important topic. I don't try to preserve or idealise traditions.
Rather, I believe tradition should be interpreted. Traditions survive only when they are read anew in time. I have reinterpreted the techniques and philosophy of oriental painting in modern formations and made them live and breathe in present emotions and contexts. It also raises the question of what contemporary art should be like from a global perspective. So I have focused on creating a balance between tradition and modernity, East and West, abstraction and narrative.
I think that in order to be able to cross the boundaries between cultures, above all, one's own language must be clear, and it must have authentic roots.

The inner and outer world, painting on Korean paper, 100x80.3 cm, 2020 © Jin Kyeong An

You recently received the 2025 Top 60 Masters award in Italy. How does international recognition influence your next steps as an artist?

In 2025, I received the great honour of being selected as the world's 60 masters in Italy. I think this award is not just based on the evaluation of the artist's experience or achievement, but rather on the recognition of 'what kind of resonance does the artist's unique language and senses have internationally'. After receiving this award, the response to my work has become wider and deeper, and international collaboration proposals are coming in. Above all, the biggest gift this award gave me was the belief that one's path worked. Rather than trying to prove something, I have always worked to be true to myself. And the fact that the truth has reached artists, curators, and critics around the world gives great courage to future work.
I'm now plotting my work from a broader perspective, and I'm preparing for the next step with the question of how art can connect humanity with emotions and the language of the times. Future work will expand beyond just individual expressions around keywords such as 'empathy' and 'memory'. It has the power to record art in time and purify the emotions of the community. I believe in that power, and I want to continue my own colour and breath on the canvas because art is, after all, the most fundamental language that makes humans human.

Looking ahead, what are your biggest dreams or projects you hope to realise in the coming years?

My biggest dream for the next few years is to realise an international immersive art project centred on the nature and emotions of human existence and the theme of hurt and recovery in the social context.
Rather than simply focusing on aesthetic perfection or visual shock, the goal is to centre the stories of social minorities, marginalised beings, and those who have lived in silence, and to capture their voices as the greatest art. In order to achieve this dream, I was thinking of doing exhibitions in various cities as well as residency programs that collaborate with creators in each region. Through this, we want to show that art can go beyond mere expression and become a tool for 'connection' and 'change'.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.

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