As part of its introduction to the U.S. marketplace, Korean soju brand Hwayo is toasting creative excellence among the broader Asian creative community.

Hwayo Honors is a new event series that aims to convene artists from multiple disciplines – fine arts, film and television, fashion and more – in that most familial of settings: the dinner table. “We took inspiration from films like ,” says Hwayo global brand director Vy Le. “There are a lot of people who are like, ‘Oh, here’s sponsorship dollars.

’ Let’s not do that. Let’s just call our friends and see how we can try to support each other.” As a Los Angeles-based artist whose work frequently intersects with activism, Glenn Kaino was a natural partner to co-host, with Hwayo president Lucia Cho, the inaugural dinner in L.

A. “I’ve spent a big portion of my career championing artists,” says Kaino, whose first call was to painter and star Joseph Lee, whose style takes impasto to the extreme, with thickly applied oil fragments giving his portraits a three-dimensional texture. Kaino decided to pair Lee’s work with innovative photography by Bruce Mau in curating the first Hwayo Honors artist doubleheader, which took place May 29 at a private residence in Laurel Canyon.

Both artists introduced their work to the intimate group of 30 invited guests, who included Olympic champion Chloe Kim, former ABC Studios International managing director Keli Lee, celebrity stylist Joe Zee and star Raymond Lee. “So many.