How the artist behind the ‘Parasite’ painting brought his whimsical world to Highland Park

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

If you’ve ever dined at Chef Debbie Lee’s restaurant Yi-Cha, you’ve likely noticed the colorful, cartoon-style mural at the entrance. The vibrant painting features food, animals, nature and bold Korean words such as “Awesome” and “Let’s Eat.” It also captures the lively spirit of Highland Park in Northeast Los Angeles.

Last week, in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander History Month, Lee hosted a meet-and-greet with  the mural’s artist, Korean visual artist ZiBeZi.  

“This event [was] our way of saying thank you to him, and to our guests who have fallen in love with his work,” Chef Lee told The LA Local. She commissioned ZiBeZi to paint the mural last fall when she opened her restaurant. 

ZiBeZi, whose given name is Jung Jae-hoon, did not begin as a visual artist. For more than a decade, he worked as a rapper, shaping stories through rhythm and lyrics. Painting came later, after what he describes as a difficult period in his life, when drawing became a form of recovery — a way, he said, “to breathe and heal.”

That origin still lingers beneath the surface of his work. His paintings, at first glance, lean whimsical: rounded forms, bright palettes, a sense of motion that feels almost childlike. But look longer and the compositions begin to open up into something more layered and introspective.

“I enjoy creating scenes where humans, nature, animals and the universe coexist without boundaries,” ZiBeZi told The LA Local. “On the surface, the work may feel playful or cartoon-like, but underneath, there are emotions, memories and questions about life.”

Artist ZiBeZi poses with acclaimed Parasite director Bong Joon-ho alongside ZiBeZi’s painting that was featured in the film.

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Couresty of ZiBeZi

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His work has traveled farther beyond Highland Park. In Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning film “Parasite,” one of ZiBeZi’s abstract paintings appears as a prop — a child’s drawing that seems innocent but quietly signals something more unsettling. The placement introduced his work to a global audience, a moment that helped shift the trajectory of his career.

By 2024, the Grammy Museum had commissioned him to create a mural for its K-pop exhibition, another sign of his growing visibility. Still, he describes these milestones less as turning points than as affirmations.

“Those experiences gave me confidence to continue creating,” he said, “while also reminding me to stay true to my own voice and artistic identity.”

At Yi-Cha, that voice takes on a distinctly local resonance. Lee said ZiBeZi approached the mural less as a commission and more as a process of immersion. “He didn’t just paint a mural he spent time in Highland Park, walked Figueroa, felt the neighborhood. That kind of intention shows in every inch of the wall.”

The result is a piece that bursts with joy. An alien figure hovers near the words “Highland Park,” rendered in Hangul, the Korean alphabet. There are subtle nods to Yi-Cha’s menu and broader references to Los Angeles, woven together in a way that resists a single interpretation.

It is, above all, a mural meant to be lived with and experienced over meals.

“Painting for a restaurant feels very different from exhibiting in a gallery,” ZiBeZi said. “Here, art becomes part of people’s everyday experience — it lives with their laughter, their meals and their memories.”

The mural wall at Yi Cha, a Korean restaurant on Figueroa Street in Highland Park, fills floor to ceiling with whimsical illustrations celebrating the neighborhood and Korean culture.

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Courtesy of Stan Lee

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