Busan’s creative community is set to get a boost from a brand new creature feature.

Exotic Beasts is a new group designed to give artists in Busan and nearby areas exposure through exhibitions and a weekly magazine.

The group was started by Jeongmin Lee, who is based on nearby Geojedo Island and illustrates under the name Min the Elephant. She was frustrated with the lack of opportunities to show her work.

“I wanted to join some artists group for shows and wanted to be involved in the arts scene in Busan, but I couldn’t find anything going on,” she said.

“I know there are some artists that are working really hard in Daejeon and Seoul, but for me it was really hard to join them.”

After setting up a successful group exhibition in June, featuring nine Korean and expat artists, she felt confident about setting up the group. Exotic Beasts now has artists from Korea, the U.S., the U.K., Bulgaria and New Zealand.

One benefit for her was being able to draw on the ideas and experience of others, such as fellow Geojedo resident Mina Miryanova.

“She is a professional artist and makes money from her art but she needs some ways to promote her art in Korea, but she doesn’t know many people and she doesn’t know the language, so she is very passionate about making this community work,” said Lee.

“She has a lot of advice about where to do it and how to make the show work and stuff like that. I’m really glad that she’s joined up.”

Another benefit is the collective effort to produce a show acts as a kind of motivation.

“A lot of us haven’t done that many shows before, but with this artists group it’s like a group pressure to draw, to make something creative,” said Lee.

The first issue of Exotic Beasts will be available to pick up at bars and cafes in Busan and nearby areas from Sept. 20. A launch event will be held the same day at Galmegi Brewery in Busan. 

For more information, visit the Exotic Beasts Facebook page.

By Paul Kerry (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)