Baek Hyun-jin Continues Painting Like Singing, Acting Like Painting
Creatrip Team
a month ago
Multihyphenate artist Baek Hyun-jin (54) opened his solo exhibition “Seoul Syntax” at PKM Gallery in Jongno, Seoul. Known to the public as an actor from dramas like Mock Taxi (모범택시), Moving (무빙) and Office Workers (직장인들), Baek has also been a practicing visual artist since 1996 with nearly 30 years of exhibition history. He said he creates “like singing, like acting,” and much of the new work—31 paintings and videos, mostly made during a difficult year of burnout—reflects emptiness and quietness. Large pieces use traditional Korean paper called jangji (a type of hanji) and show sparse compositions; Baek explained this lighter approach felt physically and emotionally fitting after a period of exhaustion. He described quitting drinking and smoking and taking up jogging as part of his recovery. Baek stressed that he never set out to be a “full‑time” multidisciplinary artist, but his careers in music (he co-founded the band Eoeob Project), acting and visual art inform each other. Increased acting income has given him freedom to paint without compromise. He is experimenting with AI tools—sharing his mobile sketches with generative AI like ChatGPT and Gemini—and plans further work and future exhibitions in the coming years.
