Eunji #2 (Edition 3/3) Photograph

Martyn Thompson is an artist and photographer from the U.K. who established himself as an artist in Korea. After graduating from Northampton University, UK in 2007, with a degree in fine art, winning an award for his final show exhibition piece 'Moulding Myself' he moved straight to Korea. Upon graduating, Martyn pursued his personal studies of Korean video artist Baik Nam June. Producing art and finding exhibiting opportunities in a foreign country was difficult, because at the time there was little activity amongst fellow expatriate artists. A lot of perseverance was required, and after partaking in a few group exhibitions with the International Art Community, Martyn held his first white wall solo exhibition in 2011 at Gallery I in Insadong, Seoul. Despite some minor language communication problems, Martyn has continued working with the Gallery I owner, and forged a strong relationship to create more opportunities for foreign artists living in Korea. He is now considered a very reliable asset and communicative body by several galleries and foreign artists living in Korea. Martyn has exhibited extensively across the country since 2009, putting on four solo exhibitions, partaking in around twenty-five group exhibitions, and having just completed his fifth solo exhibition April 2015. In 2012, Martyn curated two exhibitions in Seoul and co-curated a further two in other cities across the peninsula as well as establishing the Professional Artist's Network Korea. PANK has now grown to include over eighty artists from fifteen different countries in just over two years, and is run by Martyn with a team of six dedicated volunteers. Martyn has curated a further seven group exhibitions, and helped a further five artists to hold solo exhibitions while continuously developing the PANK website and providing a vital resource for English speaking artists living in Korea. Martyn moved back to the U.K. in the summer of 2016 with his family and has recently begun working on a new series of images in a new style.