Ji Minseok is an artist who works between Mexico and South Korea, creating experimental works that blend traditional Korean painting with performance, video, and installation.

At this year’s Biennale, he presents a monumental painting titled “Goshin Hyeon-eo Hwanghae-do”, which loosely translates to “The Coca-Cola Deity Appears in the Yellow Sea.” Measuring over three meters, the work reimagines Coca-Cola—a quintessential symbol of global consumerism—as a divine figure descending into the Yellow Sea.

Rendered through the visual languages of Korean shamanism, Buddhism, and traditional East Asian painting, the work follows a narrative arc in which a character named Woon-gi embarks on a journey in search of truth. At the end of his path, he encounters the Coca-Cola goddess and attains enlightenment.

Embroidered slogans like “Open Happiness” and “Real Magic”—repeated like Buddhist mantras—appear across the surface, layered with pictographic text and painterly gestures.

Ji Minseok’s painting transforms a capitalist icon into a new mythology, inviting viewers to reexamine the world through alternative lenses.

Two additional works, “The 108 Deities” and “Text Symbols,” are also on view at the Mokpo Indoor Gymnasium exhibition hall.