"In Your 50s, Do What Makes Your Heart Race"... The Man Who Left a Major Corporation to Become an Artist [It’s Okay, A New Life]

According to Financial News, the engineer who spent 25 years at a major corporation developing electronic components now sits in front of a canvas, painting with a brush. That is not all: he also writes novels, plays the piano, and is so busy that he even attends a graduate program in artificial intelligence (AI). After working diligently for 25 years as a senior researcher at a large company, artist Yoon Jin-soo (51) reset the clock on his life at age 50. This is his story.

Yoon was born in 1975 in Suwon as the only son of a devout Christian family. At age five, he won a gold prize at a national art competition, and at six he began playing the piano, growing up with the dream of becoming a performer. By the time he was ten, he was already serving as the accompanist at the church where his father was pastor. While his friends ran around in taekwondo uniforms, he recalls that he was the kid who always carried a piano bag.
However, reality was too harsh for him to simply follow his artistic talent. When he was in middle school, the church faced serious difficulties and had to move into a small commercial building. Then, in his second year of high school, his father, the pastor, passed away suddenly. The family’s finances collapsed, and they were plunged into severe hardship. Moving from one small rental apartment to another with his mother as basic livelihood recipients, he says his mind was filled with one thought: that he had to study hard if he wanted to rebuild his family.
As a result of throwing himself into his studies, his grades, which had placed him around 15th in his class in middle school, rose to around 15th in the entire school once he entered high school. Yoon went on to study in the Department of Electronic Engineering at Hanyang University, his desired major. In 2001, at age 25, he joined a major IT conglomerate as a PC development researcher. From then until he resigned in October last year, he devoted himself faithfully to the company for a full 25 years.

"I ran for 25 years just to make a living, but there was always a thirst in one corner of my heart. Even when I was focused on work, artistic thoughts would suddenly crash into my mind. In the end, I picked up the brush again to relieve the stress."In 2017, the art he took up again as a hobby to paint in oils became the spark. He had never formally majored in art, but he began to gain recognition by winning prizes in competitions. His paintings drew attention and were described by people in the art world as distinctive.
As his dream of doing art slowly grew, a graduate school admission notice he happened to see on social media caught his eye: the Graduate School of Fine Arts at Hongik University. It was a night program, but it would still be difficult to juggle with a demanding full-time job. Even so, Yoon applied without hesitation and was accepted. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he began a kind of double life—working at the company during the day and taking online classes at night."I would wake up at dawn to study modern and contemporary Korean art and Western art history. On weekdays I went to the office, and after work I painted until late at night. During the three years I was in graduate school, I was never late or absent and never lost my scholarship. I served as class representative for all five semesters, and my professors would say, ‘We’ve never seen a student this diligent.’"In graduate school, Yoon began studying abstract art in earnest. He dug into the works of Korea’s masters as if he were working a job, as if he were doing research. Kim Whanki, Kim Tschang-yeul, Park Seo-bo, Lee Ufan... He read books about these leading Korean artists, visited exhibitions, and studied their work over and over. At some point, because he knew the artists and their worlds so thoroughly that even his professors were amazed, everyone started calling him "Class Rep Yoon."

His passion crossed borders as well. In 2023, he was selected for and took part in the "Times Square Screen 24 Artists Project Exhibition" in New York’s Times Square. He also held a solo exhibition in Milan, Italy. He has now held 13 solo exhibitions in total. Yet his appetite for art did not stop there. A novel he had been serializing on the Brunch online platform for about a year was recently published using a POD (print-on-demand) system. He also formed the MoCA Trio with professional musicians and began performing as an amateur pianist, giving a classical concert at Daejeon Artists’ House.

Quitting his job and fully embarking on the path of an artist has not made his life more relaxed. In fact, his clock has only sped up since leaving the company. "I realized I needed to study AI to integrate engineering and art," he said, explaining why he took on yet another challenge by enrolling at the Seoul School of Integrated Sciences & Technologies (aSSIST). Starting in March, he plans to pursue a master’s program in AI and Big Data."Many people, once they retire, want to travel and play golf for the rest of their lives. But in an era where people live to 100, 50 years is a very long time. I want to combine my engineering knowledge with art and pioneer a new genre, like Nam June Paik did. Money should follow me; I shouldn’t be the one chasing money."
As we continued talking with Yoon, whose life has been full of ups and downs, one question naturally arose. Wasn’t he afraid to leave a stable job that so many people long for? He laughed and said, "It took me exactly four days to decide to resign.""I stayed in Milan for about ten days in October 2023 for a solo exhibition, and I had an incredibly enjoyable time. While I was there, I thought that when the day finally came for me to retire, I wanted to hold exhibitions abroad—places I had never been able to visit because life was so busy. I felt that would free my work from its constraints and make it more open. I had also always told myself I would leave at 50. I had poured everything I had into that one company for 25 years, so I had no regrets. I was more curious about the world outside the company, and I wasn’t anxious because I had things I had been preparing for."To those dreaming of a second life, he emphasizes two habits: waking up early and keeping records. In fact, Yoon says he wakes up every day at 5:40 a.m., prays, and reads a verse from the Holy Bible to start his day. He then writes down any ideas that come to mind in his diary or in a message to himself on his phone."If you do nothing, nothing will happen. Start preparing your own weapon while you’re still at your job. Then open the door and step out boldly. Outside is not as cold as you think, and it’s filled with far more exciting things."
bng@fnnews.com Kim Hee-sun Reporter