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| ▲ Chairman Jung amid on-display paintings. Photographed by Song You Jin. | ||
When you go down the road out of the seventh exit of Naebang station, you may soon find yourself pulled off-street by the gravity of one metallic building. You step in, and marvel at what unfolds in front of you: a tree scented café with fancy paintings hung on every wall. Going upstairs, a series of Picasso-style paintings welcome visitors. Voila! There, a reporter of The Granite Tower (GT) met the person who created this wonderland.
Jung Seungwoo (’99, Law), a chairperson of the uJung foundation and the uJung art center, is the creator. He not only founded this art center, but also sponsors many talented young artists from diverse fields. Contrary to other commercial galleries, the uJung art center annually provides a private art studio for free to the selected artists chosen from a tough open call audition.
Though the building itself is not as huge as public museums, it has its own advantage. Thanks to its compact-sized halls, you can feel closer to the paintings that are literally anywhere— even the café de uJung on the first floor holds its own exhibition. When you step in, you will find yourself in a forest of paintings, most of which you usually expect to be housed in the museum or fancy gallery. Hold on, since it is just a beginning. The uJung art center “creates” art itself, as well as “displays” it. It helps artists expose their talents by providing them with working space and a chance to hold an exhibition—for free!
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| ▲ A rent-free studio at uJung art center, in the third floor. Photographed by Song You Jin. | ||
And the café has another surprise; it is in the Guinness Book of World Records as an indoorforest therapy spot. This provides a green environment by using therapeutic elements of forests through a worldwide patented indoor air treatment application. Such groundbreaking attempts are meant to “get the art and the public closer to each other,” says chairman Jung. Though it is nothing more than a four-story office building in appearance, it certainly does more than what neighboring office buildings do—one of the reasons it makes people curious about its founder.
The uJung art center defies a predictable life, and so does the life of its founder. As a matter of fact, running an art center is not a profitable business—and certainly not profitable if the owner makes it rent-free to artists and paintings. Thus, it is never too much to question about how it was born and what made it possible. The answer lies in the Jung himself, who leads the art center.
It is a widely held truth that a sponsoring person like him is usually of great age, often a retiree. And when thinking about an artist-sponsoring businessman, it invariably reminds people of an old-aged man who used to have a crush on art in his youth. But surprise! Neither of them is quite true. He is now in his thirties, having majored in law at Korea University (KU), and above all, he did not have a crush on art in his youth—though he confesses that he wants to know more about art. If so, what made this well-bred young fellow into a patron of arts?
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To this inquiry, he points to his great-grandfatherin- law. “He had a tremendous influence on me,” states Jung, with something akin to aspiration. As he recalls about his old grandpa, the behindstory about his life slowly begins to unravel. “He felt sorry about students deprived of education in the war-stricken period.” He pauses, then says, “He reiterated the importance of a well-rounded education, where students can balance knowledge, virtue, and health.”
This old man is now gone, but he still lives in the mind of Jung. “Once, he gave me a violin as a gift, instead of toy robots,” he recalls. Such an artistic side of his grandfather has passed on to his grandson. The fond memories ultimately shaped his identity, let alone his dream—to help students and artists in need.
Though he was too young to understand the full meaning of it, it was deeply embedded in his mind, and nudged him to follow the footsteps later. And now here he is, amid the paintings and fellow artist beneficiaries. He looks confident and unaffected, largely because of the self-claimed “rewarding” experience of contributing to society.
At first sight, his artist-sponsoring project bears thin connection with making contributions to society, but he proves it does by a simple response. “I help those talented-yet-impoverished guys, thinking they will help other people in turn.” With that lofty goal in mind, he funds artists who stick to their own philosophy. Though it sounds deceptively naïve, this pay-it-forward style donation has benefited many globally-acclaimed artists, including genius composer Jeon Min Jae, the youngest winner of The Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition.
Running a foundation like this costs an owner an arm and a leg, and it is true in his case, too. It left him “flat broke” as he laughingly remarked. Before starting this project, he used to be a competent employee at a large ship-building conglomerate. Everything went as expected, until he suddenly dropped out of the company to realize his childhood dream—that is, a dream that came from his great-grandfather-in-law. Ever since, he has poured both his savings and inherited assets into this project, leaving his high-paying career behind him.
Perhaps it makes no sense to some students obsessed with getting a nice job, but he confesses that it was the life he was looking for. “Find the activity that you feel thrilled by when doing it— hopefully contributing to the society at the same time—and stick to it,” is his advice to KU students. That sounds a bit hackneyed, as every advice is, but trust him, since he proved it possible through his life.
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| ▲ A studio for musicians, located in the second floor | ||