Meet Jaiseok Kang

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jaiseok Kang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jaiseok, thank you for joining us today and sharing your experiences and acquired wisdom with us. Burnout is a huge topic these days and so we’d love to kick things off by discussing your thoughts on overcoming or avoiding burnout

Throwing back then, I think I ignored burnout. Denial might be a more accurate word. I just kept pushing, working even harder and rushing more. However, it only got worse. Eventually, my wife suggested traveling. We did. I felt a bit better after the trip, but it didn’t last long.

I am still experiencing burnout since late 2023. Burnout feels like, to me, the more I struggle to get out of mud, the deeper I sink.

I am an overthinker, always surrounded by too many cows. I came to realize that instead of trying to overcome burnout hastily, I need to concede the problem and try to empty my brain, so I can refill and restart. Naturally, I have been creating much less new art works, and at a slower pace than before. But I can have more new experiences, good or bad, as time goes by. Quality over quantity, right? Who knows maybe my burnout will lift sooner?

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I was a naughty kid, but I loved drawing and painting. So, my parents gave in to that love by buying me art supplies instead of books, but I never dreamt of becoming an artist until I took a photography class at college. After taking more photography classes, I realized that I wanted to be a photographer; moreover, I wanted to be an artist. I pursued my career as a commercial photographer working on fashion, movie posters, and album covers while studying fine art photography at graduate school. I dropped out of school in 2004, moved to New York City in 2005. That same year, I had my first solo exhibition. That moment evoked me to be an artist and eventually led me to study painting, drawing, and printmaking at Brooklyn College until 2009.

Since 2015, I have been dazzled by using BUBBLE WRAP, making it my signature material. My work begins with observing and imagining various stories around me, from nature, books, myths, other arts, and life, then I collect and unfold them. From there, I carefully select a subject among the countless stories that I wish to bring to life, using my own imaginations, human bodies, and bubble wrap. My process also involves making installations, photographing models, and post production work.
The process somehow gives me a thrill beyond the comfort of the result.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Observe, Question, Persist. These are not only the ones I would like to pass on to people who want to be an artist, but are also the impactful qualities that have shaped my art journey as well.

First, Observe everything. Look around you, people, nature, things, and so on. Listen to what others are saying. The closer you look, the more amazing things you will see and feel that others might miss.

Second, always ask questions to others and to yourself, even if they feel silly and stupid. Questions are how we learn and how we figure out what comes next.

Lastly, persist no matter what. I think this might be the hardest one for anyone, including me. Two years ago, I gave a special lecture at college and one of the students asked me at the end. “I saw your work on your Instagram, and…how possibly can you keep creating consistently?” That is a very good question, I did say. After thinking for a moment, I told her, “There is nothing else I can do besides making my art, and it is only thing I can enjoy the most. After that, whatever happens with my work is out of my hands.” I could catch a bit of disappointment on her face, but that is the damn truth.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

A decade! I wish I did know I had that much time left. During the pandemic, I assured that we could die on any given day. COVID-19 changed me upside down. For the very first time, I regretted being an artist back then. Before 2020, at least I was proud of what I was doing and I strongly believed my art could change people’s minds, even the world for the better.

Now, I am slowly recovering from depression getting my confidence back as people around me support by encouraging what I am doing.
So if I had a decade left, my answer is to take whatever chance I have, thank them who believe in me, and do my very best until the end.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

01. Self portrait with Nick. 2021, Gelation silver print.
02, Merman, 2021, Archival pigment print. Model: Nick Katen
03. Mermaid, 2021, Archival pigment print. Model: Cara Seymour
04. Cito, The Bronx, NY, 1974. 2015, Gelatin silver print
05. Bubble wrap no.27 (Black Resilience), 2022, Archival pigment print. Model: Christian Blue, Nathaniel Hunt, Jacoby Pruitt
06. Four gentlemen, 菊, 국화, Chrysanthemum, 2023, Gelatin silver print. Model: Cara Seymour
07. Bubble wrap no.36, 2024, Archival pigment print. Model: Rae Boyadjis & Rope artist: Trixie LaPointe
08. Artbath exhibition. The Blue building, NY, 2022
09. Solo exhibition. Gallery Mumo, Seoul, 2023

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