Actor Ha Jung-woo has been painting since when he was in his early 20s. His works were shown at art fairs from time to time, but they did not receive much attention. His works were largely overlooked because of the overall hostility harbored by the art industry toward celebrities picking up the brush.

It came as a surprise to many when Hakgojae Gallery, considered conservative in its approach, opened a solo exhibition of Ha’s works on Wednesday.

Woo Chung-woo, director of Hakgojae Gallery and son of the gallery's founder Woo Chan-kyu, said he kept an eye on the artist from his early days as an artist and decided to show his works at the gallery to “break the mold of the Korean art scene.”

“There have been many attempts by artists who did not have the so-called professional art education to show their works and communicate with people, but it seems many of them have failed as the Korean art world is quite exclusive,” Woo told The Korea Herald on Friday.

“As a gallerist, I wanted to help people who dare to break the mold. They do have their unique talent usually unseen by those educated in art schools. The art scene is becoming more global here in Korea so I think the time has come for us to be more flexible when it comes to encompassing diversity in art,” Woo said.

Many of the 35 paintings, all created this year, were inspired by Ha's five-month stay in Morocco shooting a film. Once back in Korea, he worked on paintings featuring Indigenous patterns on carpets and masks from the region. Some of the paintings were inspired by Korea's own traditional folk masks.

“By tracing the reinterpretation of symbolic expressions of primitivism, the works convey resonances related to the essence of human existence and suggest new emotional discoveries,” the gallery noted on the exhibition.

The exhibition runs through Nov. 16.