Drake's in Seoul: In the Studio with Inhyuk Jo

Seoul can be a disorienting city. A sprawling web of motorways, uniform tower blocks and snaking alleyways; millions of people on the way to, or from, somewhere.

On a Saturday afternoon, a harsh summer light reflecting off the concrete and glass of the street around us, we meet Inhyuk Jo high up in a nondescript office block that he’s fashioned into a studio, a view of the city giving way to mountains off in the distance, the bustling set piece of Seoul below visible from a large window. 

After years spent as a successful visual and product designer (we take a seat on a green sofa of his own making), Jo felt like something was missing. A talented artist during his childhood, he chose not to pursue his practice further as “I needed to earn money… which is a hard thing to do as an artist.”

“I majored in visual design,” he says, pausing in between sentences to observe the endless stream of cars and people, reduced to tiny dots way down below. “After 10 years of hard work I felt like now is the time to create something of my own, so I rented this office and I started to paint.”

Jo’s paintings, realised in vivd primary colours, depict the sense of loneliness and isolation that he often felt growing up and in his professional life. Open doorways lead to the silhouettes of figures hunched in quiet contemplation; profiles are blurred and slightly pained. The palette is Matisse, but the subject matter is more Hopper. Urban ennui and the gentle defeat of the daily grind. 

“I often felt unsettled and slightly lonely,” says Jo, “so I wanted to find an outlet to express those feelings. All of this work is from the last year. Once I started, I found it hard to stop. It’s a combination of memory and imagination, some from real life, but nothing is exact. I came to discover the legendary painters later in my life than most, so I feel like I’ve been catching up on inspiration.” 

While there’s no master plan for his new career as a painter, Jo is content with the process. “I always dreamed of being an artist,” he says, “but work and the pressures of life got in the way. I wanted to take some time to focus on this new chapter.

“I don’t have a goal, but I’ve found freedom and happiness from painting every day.”