Profile of a Martial Arts Artist
Beom Jin Ko from Seoul, Korea
by Matt Pasquinilli
 
     A martial artist should be well rounded, developed in many areas of self exploration and expression. Painting, drawing, sculpting, and other visual arts can be used to help reach a better understanding of who we are as martial artists and human beings. Beom Jin Ko, 2nd Dan Kumdo,  uses pen and brush to balance sword on his martial arts journey to self-fulfillment.
    
    In ancient Korea, a Moosa was a knight highly respected not only for his martial skill, but for his beautiful artwork too. Jin Ko trains hard physically in Kumdo to strengthen his mind, body, and spirit. In Kumdo, speed, power, and timing and distance are developed only through lots and lots of practice. Painting or drawing well requires the same amount of time spent practicing again and again in an effort to improve and polish your ability.

    Through painting, Jin Ko can express what makes him happy or sad, what gets him excited and what scares him. The performance of your form, (pattern, kata, poomse), should contain the same elements of emotion and feeling. When you finish reading this, get up and try doing one of your forms with anger, then with joy, then with sadness and then excitement. Martial arts movie stars have to express all of these emotions in order to entertain us. Imagine how boring it would be to watch Jackie Chan or Chuck Norris if they used no emotion when they fight the bad guys in their movies.

    It doesn't matter whether you draw, paint, sing, dance, or write stories and poetry. What does matter is that you practice it enough to continuously improve and explore your weaknesses and strengths. Jin Ko practices long and hard in the dojang with striking, blocking, and stepping drills. He does push ups and sit ups to get stronger and runs to build stamina. When he gets tired, he pushes himself to finish. When he makes a mistake, he smiles and corrects it to keep going. In his art studio, he uses the exact same principles to become a better artist.

    Jin Ko wants you to know that if you want to be an artist like he is, then you must start at once to work hard. Practice daily and when you don't like what you draw, don't give up. Finish what you start and then begin again, start over and do the same thing until you like what you see. He also warns you not to neglect your martial arts training, because without it, your body will become weak, and then your art will suffer. Balance yourself; replace watching television with drawing or painting, or singing, dancing, or writing poetry and stories. Ask yourself how you can express who you are through what you do.
 

If you would like to know more about Beom Jin Ko, or tell him you like his art, email him at:                       jin@nuri.net

Send him some of your artwork in the mail at:
                          Jin Ko
                          Inet, Inc.
                          Network Operation Team
                          Inet bld. 738-37 Yoksam-dong Kangnam-ku
                          Seoul 135-080, Korea