When others ask you who are the celebrities going to the same school as you, who do you have in mind? Most students might come up with artists who have appeared at annual school festivals, such as Gray, Loco, and Woo Won-Jae. But, there are still many other celebrities who represented our school from various fields. Therefore, I decided to write about 10 celebrities who are still students in school or who had graduated from Hongik University. Let’s get to know these celebrities and talk about their achievements and what they are known for.
Department of Fine Arts
Hwang Jae Keun
Department of Ceramics and Glass (Graduated, date unfound)
He is well-known as a designer who crafts masks for the TV program, “King of the Masked Singer” and also became famous as a designer who made the mask for Our Town’s Music Captain, Ha Hyeon Woo. After he graduated from Hongik University, he entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp to extend his knowledge as a fashion designer.
An Sang Soo
Department of Applied Art (Graduated 1977)
He is known as “The Father of Korean Typography Development”, who created the “Ahn Sang Soo Font,” which was used for the names of Cheongju International Airport, the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, and the 2018 Winter Paralympics.
After he graduated, he stayed at Hongik as a professor of Department of Visual Arts. Moreover, after he retired, he built a school called Typography School around Paju Publishing Town to offer opportunities to teach typography to more students.
Sin Sang Ho
Department of Ceramics and Glass (Graduated 1973)
He studied the potential of clay for 40 years and added depth to the field of modern pottery craft. Additionally, he worked as Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Hongik University. His works have been exhibited Internationally at the Royal Marimont Museum in Brussels, the Everson Museum in Syracuse, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the British Museum, both in London.
Park Seo Bo
Department of Painting (Graduated 1955)
He is a pioneer of Korean contemporary art and is also called Father of Monochrome Painting. When he entered Hongik University, he couldn’t extend his dream as a painter because of the Korean War. During the war, Park had to leave his hometown and move to a safer place, in Masan. Since Hongik University also moved its location to Busan, he could continue his studying, but all his professors of Oriental painting were all gone. Therefore, he changed his major to Western Arts, and by studying both Korean and Western painting, he was able to create pieces of contemporary art, which involves both Korean and Western aesthetic senses.
Department of Liberal Arts
Han Bi Ya
Department of English Language and Literature (Graduated 1986)
She is known as a refugee advocate as well as a travel writer. In the 1970s, traveling abroad was not possible for Koreans because of poverty. Through rapid economic developments in the 1980s, more Koreans started to enjoy traveling to foreign countries. Han Bi Ya was one of them. She went backpacking to various countries when she was young. By traveling to many different countries, she learned more about poverty and the refugees of the world. To help them, she worked to rescue people in need, and finally she led the Emergency Relief Team for World Vision Korea.
Department of Engineering
Joo Woo Jae
Department of Mechanical and System Design (currently on leave)
Joo Woo Jae started his career by posting his pictures of outfits on his social media. People who saw his pictures loved his neat street fashion and he quickly became popular. He debuted as a model in 2015 and now he is signed with YG Entertainment. He stars in some dramas and has become a DJ for the radio show “Put your burden on me.”
Gray (Lee Seong-Hwa)
Department of Computer Engineering (currently on leave)
He was a member of Hongik University’s hip hop club, Brainswords. He started producing music when he was a freshman in high school. Since finishing his military duty in 2009, he has continued his music career with passion. In 2011, after his military duty, he started his career when participating in the MBC University Music Festival as a team member of a group called, “Hongik University”, which won a gold award. By pursuing his dream, he finally became a member of the famous Korean hip hop record label, AOMG and earned a reputation as one of the genius producers in Korea.
Woo Won Jae
Department of Civil Engineering (currently on leave)
He was a member of Hongik University’s hip hop club, Brainswords. His dream to become a rapper came to him when he was in high school. In 2017, he became popular after he participated in the TV show “Show Me The Money” in season 6. People liked his gloomy flow and lyrics and he won 3rd place in the show. Even though he couldn’t win the 1st place in the competition, he was able to release the song “We Are” which swept many music charts. Moreover, he signed with Korean hip hop label AOMG.
Department of Economics and Business Administration
LOCO (Kwon Hyuk-woo)
Department of Economics (currently on leave)
When he was in our school,he was a member of Hongik University’s hip hop club, Brainsword and he was a leader of the group. To broaden his career, he participated in many different auditions, but he couldn’t get any proper support from the company he was signed with. While facing these difficulties, he participated in the hip hop audition program “Show Me The Money” in season 1. He won first place in the audition and finally signed a contract with the label AOMG.
Park Dae Joon
Department of Business Administration (Graduated, date unknown)
He is known as a vice president of the famous Korean delivery company, Coupang.
While he was in university, he was very ambitious about creating something new. According to his interview, he wanted to become an entrepreneur. He saw potential in the untapped field of delivery services in Korea. He wanted things to be easily accessible to the masses. Because of his hard work, experience, and ideals, Coupang chose Park as a vice president in 2020.
SooAh Lee victorahhhn@gmail.com
<저작권자 © 홍익대영자신문사, 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지>
