French artist Gilles Ghersi embarks on new adventure in Korea

SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) — He said he would have never imagined visiting Korea, not to mention opening a solo exhibition in the country, had it not been for the support from his Korean friend who now is also his agent.

Gilles Ghersi is from Valence, the scenic mountainous town often referred to as the door to the South of France. Born and raised there, the painter never left his hometown except for a short stay in America in the 1970s to learn the language and explore culture.

So for him, coming all the way to Korea is a great “adventure,” to say the least, and a surreal experience, he told Yonhap News Agency on Monday.

“This is my first visit to an Asian country even though I have always fancied Asian culture and foods,” the 57-year-old artist said. “I don’t know why, but I always did.”

French artist Gilles Ghersi poses for a photo after talking to Yonhap News Agency in Seoul on Sept. 13, 2016.

One day in 2015, he got a Facebook message from Lee Hye-ryong, a Korean poet, who was absolutely fascinated with his work when she accidentally came across them on the Internet. They soon became good friends, frequently talking to each other about art and life in general.

In May, she officially signed a contract with the artist to become his agent. Since then, three exhibitions for his artworks have been held in Korea, with the latest one currently taking place in the southern port city of Busan until Oct. 15.

He arrived in Korea on Sunday for a month-long stay for the Busan exhibition. With no sign of jet lag, Ghersi seemed as excited as a boy waiting for a school field trip. With Lee, he walked on a bridge over the Han River, checked out the riverside park and dared to taste fermented skate, considered the most hard-core Korean food which even locals find it hard to eat due to its strong ammonia-like odor.

“Seoul is surprisingly modern, and what I like about it is that modernity doesn’t eat its tradition,” he said.

“The Wedding,” 70 cm x 60 cm, oil on paper (courtesy of Sara Art Company)

Originally a jewelry designer when he was a young adult, he hit a wall when the heavy use of his fingers, for decades, to create delicate-patterned jewelry caused unbearable pains to his hands.

“I was devastated and didn’t know what to do. I cried a lot and eventually decided to take a new road,” he said. “I started painting at 45. It was therapy for my mind.”

Since then, painting has became his “everything” that has presented him with many pleasant surprises in his otherwise simple, or rather run-of-the-mill life, of working, cooking, tending to garden and listening to music.

“Neapolitan in the street” 120 cm x 120 cm, oil on drywall. This painting is taken from his Facebook on Sept. 13, 2016.

His jovial portrayal of people, mostly in happy occasions like a wedding, casts the subject in such a transparent and shallow light despite it being oil paintings. Those people in his paintings are “my imaginary friends who come to my head when I lay awake late at night,” he said.

“When I go back home, imaginary Korean friends hopefully visit me in my dreams. When they do, I will paint Koreans in my paintings.”

Thinking highly of family values, he often paints to honor his dead aunt, who was mentally challenged and painted a lot when she was alive.

“I wanted to do something to remember her. A pang of nostalgia hits me when I do.”

“Lilou’s Girls” series is his “hommage” to her, he said, for guiding him to form his art world.

While he is in Korea, he hopes to meet as many Koreans as possible and make them feel healed and happy with his paintings.

“I am aware that historically Korea has gone through many difficult times. I like Koreans’ sensibility and hope to share my stories through my paintings.”

Untitled, 70 cm x 60 cm, oil on paper (courtesy of Sara Art Company)

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