Why Paint? (Introduction)

September 2025

Why make art?

Why, in this world full of violence and hatred and love and compassion, could it possibly be worthwhile to indulge in art making?

Because art-making is not an indulgence. It’s as important as breathing, sleeping, dancing, kissing. Art is a necessary record of our experiences. From a doodle carved into a school desk, to a fantasy novel, to a portrait painting, to a kpop album. Art is a sign of life, a historical document of who existed and what they felt. Art is evidence of living.

Art has meaning because it’s a vehicle for a human being to connect with another human being.

The source of inspiration for the art one makes is far less important than whether you make art at all.

Over the past few years, I've painted over a dozen paintings and drawn twice as many drawings of a South Korean performing artist whom I've never met and don't share a common language with. And I've asked myself why, over and over again. Whether I should spend my precious time doing this.

My latest painting is called Gaze, and it's also of singer Kim "Key" Kibum. It has a fluorescent red underpainting. His portrait emerges, sultry and bloody, from a black background. There's a red darter dragonfly with yellow mylar wings hovering over his face, covering one of his eyes.

Gaze was inspired by Key's latest album, Hunter, as well as the dragonflies I saw in a local swamp, the pressing feeling of sociological decay in the United States of America, the sun obscured by wildfire smoke, the aggressive eroding of LGBTQ+ rights, and the putridness of global warming.

That's what went into it. But what comes out?

Hunter (the album) was inspired by The Substance, urban legends, Lady Gaga, and a blacklight menu Key saw at a restaurant.

Our inspirations and influences go in. Art comes out. We communicate with one another. We tell one another that we're alive.

I no longer ask how I should justify spending so much time painting pictures of Key. I instead ask why I should have to justify it.

I don’t.

Make art however it comes to you.

Make evidence of living.

With love,

Kori Michele Handwerker

Originally printed as the afterword in "Key to My He(art)," edited slightly to also be printed as the introduction to "Why Paint: Essays on Artmaking" (work in progress.)