Tina Park promotes “art of purity”

Artwork is displayed at the Art Museum THE VERSI in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. / Courtesy of THE VERSI

Tina Park

By Park Jin-hai

Tina Park holds many titles. The Korean-American business consultant, author, and human rights advocate now leads a museum in her mother country.

Art museum VERSI launched the first Asian “art brut” or outsider art museum.

Art brut is a lesser-known art genre, she said, and may be unfamiliar, non-manufactured, primitive and pure, as defined by French artist Jean Dubuffet who coined the term in 1945 for creations of people with no relation to the professional art world.

“We wanted to take this opportunity to give everybody a chance to express themselves in Art. It doesn't matter if you are poor, wealthy, disabled, young or old. Anybody can come and join” said Park during a telephone interview with The Korea Times, Thursday.

Art Museum VERSI, a three-story museum opened last November in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, is currently showcasing past and contemporary art pieces of outstanding outsider artists.

From another interview, Lee Choong-soon, the director of the art museum Versi also said the museum will “provide programs to help heal the disabled and needy people through not just exhibitions but also introducing new artists and nurturing those with talents.” Lee added “Art brut is still at its neophyte phase. It would be great if everyone stepped up to spreading words about it.” For more details, please call 031-288-0376.

Park says she believes the museum itself could be an opportunity for Korea to become a “matured” country giving equal opportunity to minorities such as the disabled.

Park has worked a long time to protect the human rights of minorities. She has been involved with the Assyrian Aid Society of America to spread awareness of the Assyrians and other minorities to establish a safe haven in the Nineveh plains of Iraq. She organized the awareness campaign with Korean-American Christian communities nationwide. For more information, visit