When Life Gives You Tangerines

A reflection on art, solitude, and peace of mind

Why I Don’t Watch TV (Often)

I don't watch TV often. I haven’t seen the K-drama Fooled by the Bombshell that's currently trending on Netflix, even though people around me are making a big fuss about it. Everyone says it’s fun—they say I must watch it.

When Life Gives You Tangerines -Korean Drama on Netflix

YouTube as the New TV

I used to spend a lot of time on YouTube instead. These days, it feels like just another TV channel. I have this bad habit of flipping through channels without settling on anything. I'm lost in a sea of information, hopping from one thing to another, never quite finding what I want.

It feels like I’ve seen everything already. Maybe I’ve become bored because so much content feels the same. YouTube’s algorithm used to suggest things I'd love—but now even that feels stale. Human tastes are so fickle.

The Millionaire Next Door

One lazy Saturday afternoon, I was lying on the sofa, flipping through the channels again. That’s when a program title caught my eye: The Millionaire Next Door.

This millionaire’s living room was filled with paintings and artworks worth tens of billions of won. From David Hockney to KAWS—masters of modern art were on display.

I’ve always had an interest in collecting art, but I was even more curious about who can afford to collect this much. What do they do for a living?

Turns out, the millionaire was a single woman who made her fortune designing logos for major corporations. She now lives in a large mansion on the outskirts of the city—too big for one person.

For your reference, here’s the YouTube link:
The Next Door Millionaire

 

The Next Door Millionaire 

A Quiet Mansion and a Lonely Question

I imagined her life. She was once at the top of her field, surely surrounded by friends and industry connections. So why does she now live in such a quiet place?

Isn’t the city where the rich thrive—social parties, designer stores, high heels, and all that sparkle? What’s the point of having all those things if there’s no one to see them?

These were the prejudices I had about wealth.

Living in the countryside means you don't have to wear fancy clothes, carry expensive handbags, or wear high heels, but you don't have the opportunity to show off the things you paid a lot of money for, do you? Aren't people who have too much money and are overflowing with it supposed to show it off?
I've never had too much money, so these were the prejudices I had about rich people. 

 

Her Art-Filled Living Room

The TV hosts showed her the artwork hanging in her living room. Wow! There were all kinds of works by artists who are famous these days.  These included adult toys by pop artist KAWS, who is called the Andy Warhol of the 21st century, and large-scale landscape paintings by David Hockney, as well as works worth hundreds of millions to billions of won.
Is this person talking to the paintings hanging on the wall?
Does she find happiness in having these expensive collections on display in a house where no one else is around?
In conclusion, she was not just an ordinary woman living alone as the TV title suggests, but an art collector and art museum director. Some may criticize her for promoting the art museum, but shouldn't we acknowledge her pure passion for the artwork? 

What Comes After “More”?

Most people live for money. They don't know why money is good, but without money, it's inconvenient. They have to pay the rent, they have to pay the bills.
Once the essentials of life are taken care of, and you have enough money to live a little bit extravagantly, what's next?
Is it a numbers game, who has more until they die?
Some people live shouting "more, more, more", and some people find a different path.

Then, What is that different path means?
I guess the value of something invisible rather than something visible, something whose depths are unknowable and therefore endless, something that doesn't grow tiresome. 

'The emptiness that comes after having it all,
and the boredom with material things.'

Is that the final destination of material success—boredom?

 

Bessie Johnson’s Moonlight

Is life destined to eventually become weary of everything we enjoy in this human world? Other people I know, Bessie Johnson and her husband, have lived similar lives. I have admired them for a long time. The reason they still remain in my mind among so many great people is because of this one line from Bessie Johnson.

"You may have your cities and electric lights, movies, dancing parties, and surging crowds;but for thrill,  give me the moon light in the dessert."

Was the phrase "give me the moonlight" originally such a sad and hazy one? My heart aches every time I recall the word "moonlight." To me, that word sounds like "peace." Something that will end the never-ending struggle that has been going through: Silence. Calmness, stillness. All I want in this world is peace of mind. But why is it so hard to get that little thing?

          Image source:  inacents.com
Scotty’s Castle is considered the finest example of a Spanish Castle ever built in America. The legendary Death Valley Scotty gave the Castle fame, and the Desert remoteness makes it unique.
Kolor View Press ©1975

Let me introduce Bessie Johnson briefly.  Bessie and her husband Albert Mussey Johnson built a house in the middle of the desert long before Las Vegas was built. Her husband,  Albert Mussey Johnson was a millionaire  who made his fortune in the insurance business.
when he discovered the desert, he decided to live there, in death valley, so named because it was so uninhabitable because there wasn't a drop of water.

The Peace of Solitude

Do we only find peace of mind when we are completely alone?
What’s the difference between moonlight in the city and moonlight in the desert?

What would it be like to build your own castle in the middle of the desert and live in your own kingdom? Do humans ultimately find peace of mind when they are alone? What is the difference between moonlight in the city and moonlight in the desert?
  
I cautiously guess that people find relief only when they find the master of their soul. My master is me, and I am also the king of the castle. However, people live their lives trying to find something from other people.

I wonder if Bessie Johnson realized this too. Maybe she reached a point where she saw the futility of constant human entanglement.

She may not have collected art, but in my view, she lived artfully.

What Is Art, After All?

 

You might build a castle to escape people…
and find yourself finally understanding them.

 
You might ask, what does Bessie Johnson's life have to do with art, since she's not like the art-collecting millionaire in the previous example?
To explain that, we would have to discuss what is art, and that would be a very long story. 

But let me just say one thing
Art exists to soothe the soul.
Living a beautiful life—one rooted in peace and simplicity—is a form of art.
 A beautiful life is living by realizing the instinct to return to the fundamental peace within you.
Some may call it isolation. Others may call it futility.
But maybe, it’s actually the birth of understanding and tolerance.

People might ask what you have gained by building such a castle in the end.
I cautiously guess that it is, ironically, understanding and tolerance of people.
It doesn't make sense that you built your own castle to escape people, but in the end it was to understand people.

 
Image source: sierrawave.net

 

The Conman Next Door

Here is the story of Walter Scott, a  conman who lived close to the Johnsons.
The man who had no family built a house next door to the Johnson's in the death valley desert.
The Johnson's knew the man was running a scam, but they accepted him with warmth, saying, “He's a nice guy,” and laughed it off. 
Instead, Mr Johnson found riches in the desert far greater than those that glitter Scotty promised for mine investment.

Image source : www.wondersandmarvels.com

When someone causes us financial loss, we tend to think of them as bad people and treat them like the devil. However, I find it amazing that the Johnson couple understands this and looks at it as cute.
I think the understanding was from their tolerance that they felt it was his bubbly personality and his humor that made him a person worth being around, rather than the bad side of him that made him a conman.

Love and embrace are something that the recipient can eventually nourish others. It seems that the conman realized this when he was about to die thanks to the Johnson couple who treated him humanely.

Image soruce: inacents.com

Scotty and his dog Windy

 

A Gentle Legacy

Scotty, as he was known, was eventually buried next to his dog Windy.
His epitaph read:

I got four things to live by
Don't say nothing that will hurt anybody
Don't give advice. Nobody will take anyway
Don't complain
Don't explain

Just because he was a con man, it didn't mean he didn't have a life lessons. Sometimes the love you learn from someone else changes your life, just like the way we are different before we know art than we are after. 
In that sense, I think we're all artists by the time we return to the ground. 
Whether it's the futility of life or the beauty of life, we all have some kind of realization and enlightenment about the years we've lived. 

 

Closing Reflections

As I grow older, memories from my childhood come flooding back like a panorama. Forgotten music, long-lost moments—they return with no warning.

This song came to mind recently—The Temple of the King.
I used to listen to it in middle school, thanks to a friend who loved rock music.

So, I’ll end this article with gratitude, and with that song in the background.

Connect with My Art

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Watch more on YouTube: Solo Exhibition Video

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Author: Christine Bae

Who is Christine Bae?

I’ve been working as a full-time artist for seven years now. 
As a professional painter with a passion for collecting great artwork, I’m excited to connect with people who share that same appreciation.

I don’t sell originals online, but I do offer art prints as a way to share my work more widely.                   
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 Originally published at Christinebae.com

This article was written by Christine Bae.
Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. All copyrights belong to Christine Bae.
Copyright © Christine Bae.

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