Hwang Jeong Hee – The Artist of “Fish of Love”

Hwang Jeong Hee graduated from Sunhwa Arts High School and earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Oriental Painting at Hongik University. Alongside her artistic practice, she also teaches fine art at arts high schools and universities.

Specializing in traditional Oriental painting, Hwang draws inspiration from Eohaedo (Fish-and-Waterweed Painting), one of the genres of Korean folk painting (Minhwa). These works carry auspicious meanings, which she reinterprets on her canvas with a special emphasis on themes of love, harmony, and unity.

The fish that appear as icons of love in her works symbolize ourselves, while the backgrounds—moons, flowers, rocks, grasses—do not represent the fish’s natural habitat, but rather a new imagined space gifted to them by the artist. In this fairy-tale-like realm, she hopes the stories of love between the fish will unfold endlessly.

Her highly beloved series “Moon Jar Embracing Love” merges the globally admired motif of the Korean moon jar (Dal Hangari) with her symbolic fish of love, enriching the narrative with greater abundance and fulfillment.

To Hwang, love is the foundation of all emotions and life itself. Through her paintings, she wishes to convey this universal feeling to viewers, hoping that everyone will cherish and preserve their own gift-like emotion of love forever.