Meet Min Ji Son: artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Min Ji Son and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Min, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
I think it really started when I was invited to do a holiday sale to show some of my work with my friend Gabrielle Rosenstein. Prior to the sale, I’ve been selling prints or books based on some of my paintings, photos, and digital drawings, but they felt too sedentary. I started seeing if it was possible to custom print on wearables such as T-shirts or swimsuits. Every wearer brings a unique essence to the item and seeing my work live in spaces I hadn’t thought of before—from canvases or papers to maybe a sleeve was super exciting.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I feel more authentic than ever going back to my childhood of drawing vibrant characters. Kids draw their ideal characters with fun hair and outfits—a fantasy life–and I am fully going back to that along with trades I picked up on the way. I enjoy physical materials very much and I was mostly painting on tangible surfaces for a while. I especially loved the fluidity of ink and brush pens on rice paper or prepped surfaces but now I am mostly working digitally on my iPad.

I’m sensitive to environments, so being true to myself was the biggest challenge because I was filtering myself based on too much info depending on the scenario. But the more I recognize myself (I think it’s true presence that I try to cultivate), the more I am willing to take risks regardless of etc. I think the definition of risk changes entirely…new ideas become more fun than doubtful.

People will always be drawn to icons or avatars that represent their deepest expressions and ever morphing identities and I want my art to respond/expand to thousand-year fantasies and emergent technologies. We are at the most auspicious time to play with images, words because it’s celebrated and accessible more than ever. We need new strands, mutations, extensions for the thoughts we are collectively and individually experiencing. I want my work to be a part of that ecosystem—hopefully, even become the exact language someone is looking for.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My favorite part of LA is that you can find the best food from different cultures, so we’d be eating all day!

-I live in downtown so we’d walk to get coffee and pretend we’re in a walking city.

-Stop by some K-town strip malls. They’re full of fun small shops with unique items. Some of them are perfectly preserved with 90’s aesthetics.

-See some shows at galleries/museums. I’d pick them by the sizes of the spaces and maybe wall color.

-We’d go to a bookstore, impulse buy, and sit at Barnsdall Art Park. It’s a lovely hill to hang out at (when it was open). I think it has quite a unique view for many reasons.

-Griffith Park. We might play tennis and do an easy hike or bike at the beach. Nothing like a 5-8ISH PM outdoor activity.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
+My Family and Friends who are essential to my world. For unconditional love… Keeping me hyped and grounded at the same time. They’re my direct muses and geniuses.

+And of course, I am incredibly thankful to those that I have never met but go out of their way to tell me that they love my work!! I love receiving messages from customers wearing minxcenter items. I am so so so grateful <3

Website: minjison.com

Instagram: instagram.com/minxcenter

Image Credits
Aleah taken by Miwah Lee