art stories in July 2009

Fernando Botero Brings Latin American Flavor

Picnic / Courtesy of National Museum of Contemporary Art Deoksu Palace By Cathy Rose A. Garcia Staff Reporter Looking at Colombian artist Fernando Botero's paintings and sculptures, it's easy to conclude that his subjects tend to be overweight. However, Botero, who was in Seoul for the opening of his exhibition at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Deoksu Palace, insists he does not ``paint fat people." His style of creating plump figures arises from the importance he gives to volume, inspired by the style of Italian masters like Botticelli and Rubens. ``My stylistic goal lies in expanding scale. By doing so, I can increase the space to allow for use of more color and I can better convey the sensuality, richness and voluptuousness of form that I wish to express," he said. But more important than the rotund forms is his use of bright colors and themes depicting the richness and diversity of Latin American life. ``My paintings show the diversity of life. All of these themes are universal, and I hope Koreans can relate to this," Botero said. Born 1932 in Medellin, Botero gained fame for his distinctive and vivid artworks portraying Latin American life, and is widely considered one of the living masters of modern art. On display inside the museum are 89 paintings from Botero's personal collection. Three large bronze sculptures, ``Cat," ``Seated Woman," and ``Reclining Woman" can be found around the Deoksu Palace grounds. Divided into seven sections, the exhibition shows the diversity and depth of Botero's works throughout the decades, from still lifes to his latest ``Circus" series. Botero has been doing still lifes since the 1950s. The exhibition includes paintings of fruit, flowers, and musical instruments. One of the most striking is the ``Flowers (Triptych),'' a series of three large paintings in yellow, blue, and red. Botero's works usually have these three dominant colors, which are also the colors of the Colombian flag. Famous paintings by masters like Rubens, Velasquez, Cezanne, and Picasso are given a Botero-esque twist. Botero reinterpreted famous pieces like Goya's ``Duchess of Osuna,'' Rubens' ``Peter Rubens and Isabella Brandt,'' and Velasquez' ``Infanta Margarita Teresa of Spain in White Dress.'' His works depicting Latin American people, culture and everyday life are dripping with affection and warmth. Many of the paintings are based on Botero's memories of growing up in Colombia, hence the scenes of families at home, dancing, bull fighting, and streets and landscapes with Spanish colonial era structures. In Latin America, including Colombia, Catholicism is the dominant religion. Religious figures are present in Botero's paintings, such as ``Sleeping Cardinal,'' and ``The Seminary.'' Botero's ``Circus'' series is fairly new ― he started painting them in early 2000. He painted gaudy circus performers and animals with a satirical edge. ``Seated Clown'' depicts a clown with no makeup on, sitting pensively while waiting to perform. ``Having set out in search of forms that exist solidly in a changing world, Botero has the ultimate goal of moving beyond the dimension of giving simple pleasure to the viewer and into changing that viewer's understanding,'' said Liu Jienne, curator of the National Museum of Contemporary Art. Admission is 10,000 won for adults to 4,000 won for children. The museum is closed on Mondays. To get there, get off at City Hall station, line 1 or 2, exit 1 or 2. Call (02) 368-1414 or visit http://botero.moca.go.kr. To complement the Botero exhibition, a series of lectures on Latin American art, literature and music will be held at 6:30 p.m., July 16, 23 and 30 and Aug. 6, 13 and 20 at Heungkuk Life Insurance building, Gwanghwamun. Latin American films such as ``Motorcycle Diaries," ``Buena Vista Social Club," ``City of God," and ``Pan's Labyrinth" will be screened at Cine Cube, Aug. 6-12. Visit www.cineart.co.kr. cathy@koreatimes.co.kr

Actress Koo Hye-sun Reveals Artistic Side

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia Staff Reporter Fans may still remember her as the feisty and cute Jan-di who captured the heart of F4 leader Jun-pyo in the hit drama ``Boys Over Flowers.'' But there's more to Koo Hye-sun than just acting. The 24-year-old Koo has not only released a novel ``Tango'' last April, but is also showing her artistic talent in a solo exhibition at Gallery La Mer, Insa-dong. With a sweet smile, Koo shyly admitted she greatly admires Italian master Leonardo Da Vinci. ``Some might laugh, but my role model is Leonardo Da Vinci. One of my favorite teachers gave me a book `Think Like Da Vinci.' I was influenced by it. Reading the book made me realize that even if we're not geniuses and have our shortcomings, we can still accomplish a lot in our lives. This gave me more confidence,'' she said in a press conference at the gallery last week. The exhibition features around 40 of Koo's illustrations. Some of the works may be familiar for readers of Koo's first novel ``Tango,'' about a young woman's bittersweet love. It is also the title of a song by Ryuichi Sakamoto, which inspired Koo's writing. Koo said she draws every day for one or two hours in her studio at home. Aside from illustrations for her novel, Koo has also done artwork for singer Gummy's fourth album. ``I want to share my works with everyone. I hope everyone can come and see my exhibition,'' she said. Koo does show a talent for drawing, but to have a solo exhibition of her works may seem premature. The repetitive swirls of blue ink on white canvas can get old fast, especially when the entire room is filled with similar works. Koo's small, delicate ink illustrations show a great attention to miniscule details. Aside from drawing and writing, Koo said she is also writing a script for a full-length film. She has written and directed a short film ``The Cheerful Caretaker,'' which was included in the Busan Asian Short Film Festival. At the exhibition opening, heartthrob actors Lee Min-ho and Kim Jun, her co-stars from ``Boys Over Flowers,'' met Koo to show their support. Proceeds from the exhibition will be donated to the WITH campaign. The exhibition runs through July 7. Visit www.gallerylamer.com. cathy@koreatimes.co.kr

Kimchi Meets Vegemite in Exhibit

sculptor Choi Jin-ho and Australian artist Robert Liddicoat / Korea Times Photos by Cathy Rose A. Garcia By Cathy Rose A. Garcia Staff Reporter ``Kimchi Meets Vegemite'' may sound like an unusual title for an art exhibition. Featuring works by Australian artist Robert Liddicoat and Korean artist Choi Jin-ho, the exhibition combines the distinct styles of each artist's home country. While everyone in Korea knows what kimchi is, vegemite may be unfamiliar to those who have never been to Australia. ``Vegemite is this distinctively Australian paste. It's like a paste you put on to bread. It's salty and tastes a bit like strong soy paste… So Jin-ho came up with the name (of the exhibition). It's very Korean and very Australian. Their works are completely different styles, two different mediums, two different cultures, and yet they kind of work together,'' explained Mary Jane Liddicoat, Robert's daughter and Choi's wife. Somehow the quirky title works for the exhibition, featuring colorful Australian landscapes alongside stone sculptures of the imaginary creature ``haechi,'' at Samtoh Gallery, Daehangno. ``His paintings also work well with Jin-ho's interpretation of modern contemporary Korean sculptures. He's been doing the `haechi' since 2002 or 2003, even before Seoul City decided to make it its symbol,'' Mary Jane said. Liddicoat, who started painting when he was 10, has always been fascinated with color. ``I've grown up in this wonderful period of history of art in the 21st century where there are so many different styles. The thing that has persisted in my work is color. I've explored it in all its forms, realism, impressionism, post-impressionism and abstraction. I've explored color in those different forms,'' he told The Korea Times at Samtoh Gallery last week. Based in Australia, Liddicoat and his wife started coming to Korea in 2001 to visit his daughter and grandchildren. Since then he's been here almost 13 times. His trips to Korea have had a profound impact in his work. ``First it was the marketplace, there's nothing in Australia like that. The fruits and vegetable stores, the colorful hanbok and even the colorful clothes of the ajummas. Another is the autumn forests, which change from yellow to red to orange to purple. It's an extraordinary blast of color that I've never experienced before. We don't get that in Australia. It just blew me away,'' he said. The vivid colors of Korean landscapes and dynamic market scenes have inspired Liddicoat's paintings which have been featured in previous exhibitions in Seoul. However, this current exhibition is mostly Australian landscapes and the geometric abstract paintings. The colorful abstract paintings were inspired by the tiles and mosaics Liddicoat saw while traveling to Jordan and Syria. ``I developed these paintings in 1989 or 1990, when I was visiting Mary Jane there. They were inspired by the Middle Eastern architecture, tiles and mosaics inside. I only discovered these paintings again last year, and I sent photos of it to Mary Jane, and she liked it, Interestingly enough, Mary Jane said that many Korean viewers thought these abstract works were influenced by the Korean `bojagi' or traditional wrapping cloth,'' he said. The exhibition runs through July 8. To go to Samtoh Gallery, get off at Hyehwa station, line 4, exit 2. Turn right at the KFC, and turn right at the first corner. Visit www.isamtoh.com or call (02) 3675-3737. cathy@koreatimes.co.kr

Meet Miffy at Hangaram Design Museum

Miffy, the beloved Dutch cartoon rabbit, will meet Korean fans through the “Miffy at the Museum” exhibition at the Hangaram Design Museum, Seoul Arts Center. Shown here is “Miffy Mondrian” (1997). / Courtesy of Hangaram Design Museum By Cathy Rose A. Garcia Staff Reporter Miffy, the iconic little rabbit from the Netherlands, gets closer to Korean fans through the ``Miffy at the Museum'' exhibition at the Hangaram Design Museum, Seoul Art Center. Created by famed Dutch artist and illustrator Dick Bruna in 1955, Miffy has delighted generations of children throughout the decades. Miffy is originally known by her Dutch name "Nijntje," based on how a toddler pronounces the word for little rabbit, ``konijntje.'' Bruna has authored 30 Miffy books in addition to almost 100 books for other characters. His books have been translated into 40 different languages, and have sold 80 million copies worldwide. Miffy is beloved in the Netherlands, and in Bruna's hometown of Utrecht, there is even a Nijntje Little Square, named after the character. Bruna had hoped to visit Korea for this rare exhibition, but could not make it due to his age (he turns 82 years old next month) and the long travel time from the Netherlands. The Seoul exhibition begins with a brief introduction of Bruna and how he created Miffy. As the story goes, in 1955, Bruna and his family were on vacation in Egmond aan Zee, when he started telling stories about a little rabbit who lived in a garden to his one-year-old son. That rabbit became the inspiration for Miffy. Bruna used a minimalist style in creating Miffy, using only a few lines and sticking to six basic colors: red, blue, yellow, brown, gray, and black. Visitors can see the evolution from the original sketch of a toy-like character to the adorable Miffy we all know and love. Also on display are Bruna's works as a graphic designer and illustrator for his father's publishing company, A.W. Bruna and Zoon. These postcards, book covers, posters, and other materials were originally part of the ``2000X Dick'' exhibition, which was shown in Netherlands. These works are being shown for the first time in Asia. Miffy (2002) Another section shows original pencil sketches and prints of Miffy that provide insight into how Bruna brings his initial ideas to paper. Even now at 81, Bruna reportedly continues to work six days a week Miffy is not just a book character, but a popular design for toys, stationery and other items sold around the world. Organizers asked Korean artists and designers to incorporate the character in their artworks and designs for the ``Miffy the Artist'' section. The stylish Miffy lamps would be a cool item to light up anyone's home, while the wall mural is definitely an eye-catching work. ``Miffy 100 Plus 100'' features white molded Miffy dolls as designed by artists, designers, brands and celebrities. Here you can find Miffy in a traditional Korean hanbok and a Bruna-inspired Miffy made of Swarovski Crystallized Elements. One doll is even modeled after weightlifter and Olympic gold medallist Jang Mi-ran. In ``Miffy Play,'' kids will have fun playing with the interactive multimedia works. Two walls are filled with Miffy books, along with computer screens showing animated shows. For ``Happy Birthday Miffy,'' children can hold up cake- or gift-shaped pillows in front of a camera, and watch themselves on a big screen as Miffy and other characters pop up. There's also a puppet show featuring Miffy and friends for children to watch and learn. Children can also learn to draw the cute character. The exhibition is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. It is closed on July 27. Tickets are 15,000 won. Visit www.miffyartist.com or www.sac.or.kr. cathy@koreatimes.co.kr

Mock Museum at Gallery Sogool

A poster for the ``Museum of National Arts Foundation (MoNAF) Exhibition'' by Australian artists Josh Daniel and Brad Betts at Gallery Sogool. / Courtesy of the artists. By Cathy Rose A. Garcia Staff Reporter The Museum of National Arts Foundation (MoNAF) is holding its first major exhibition of ``comprehensive art.'' If you haven't heard of the MoNAF, don't feel bad. It's not actually a ``new major art institution in Seoul,'' as touted on its poster, which features a marble sculpture and a blurry photograph of a mysterious man. The MoNAF poster looks authentic enough, and that's exactly the point. The MoNAF is a ``mock museum,'' the brainchild of two young Australian artists, Josh Daniel and Brad Betts. In an interview with The Korea Times last week, Daniel and Betts discussed how they came up with the idea for the imaginary art museum. Their upcoming exhibition opens July 24 and will run through July 30 at Gallery Sogool in Changjeon-dong, Mapo. As young artists who, at least for now, can only dream of their works being displayed at major art institutions, Daniel and Betts wanted to explore their ideas about art museums. ``Major art institutions, they prescribe to people what great art is. We're looking at how they actually get that kind of credibility… We also think society has made everything into a commodity. Culture is a commodity in our society as well, and that's why every exhibition has a significant merchandise component. I guess our exhibition is, in a way, like putting into display all the things of an art gallery that aren't actually art,'' Betts said. The MoNAF will have all the facilities associated with a real museum, including a ticket booth, lobby, education center, gift shop, and art collections. It even has a special exhibition, ``Deceased Estate," with pieces from fictional MoNAF founder Hieronymus Blouchard's private collection. The artists said they wanted the exhibition to have a humorous tone, with everything in the installation ``looking and feeling as if it is intended to be taken seriously.'' Betts and Daniel, who currently reside in Seoul, didn't want to give away too many details on how exactly they will transform a small gallery like Gallery Sogool into a mini-museum. They would only say it is ``very mysterious and exciting.'' For the artists, it's all about putting the humor back into art. Even the name MoNAF is a word play. ``We made up the words to match the acronym NAF. In British or Australian English, `naf' describes something that's bit lame, but that's required a lot of work. Like if you mention a love scene from `Transformers 2,' that could be described as `naf','' Betts said. The idea behind creating the MoNAF project came from the artists' questions about the importance of having artworks displayed in major institutions and museums. ``When these art institutions take the art in, its almost like the art becomes dead, and they're no longer part of the living, breathing art scene. The act of the museum taking it transforms the art into something else,'' Betts said. Daniel hopes the exhibition will make people rethink their ideas about going to museums. ``We thought about art museums and the kind of the experience they create for people when they're seeing art and how it ends up becoming a distraction to the art itself. The experience of going to the gallery has become more important than the art… We wanted people to think differently about it,'' he said. To get to Gallery Sogool, get off Sangsu station, line 6, exit 2. Walk straight ahead for 400 meters, and after the pedestrian overpass, climb the stairs ahead. The gallery is on your left. Visit www.sogool.in. cathy@koreatimes.co.kr

Focus on Ethical Fashion at Gyeonggi Museum

A sample of British designer Mark Liu's "zero waste fashion." / Courtesy of Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art By Cathy Rose A. Garcia Staff Reporter Can fashion be ethical? This is the question posed by the new fashion-meets-art exhibition ``Fashion Ethics: Wear Good'' at Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. While fashion has always been associated with extravagance and luxury, the exhibition explores a new paradigm shift towards ``ethical fashion.'' Ethical fashion has been gaining ground in Europe. London Fashion Week's "Estethica" section promotes the best in British eco-sustainable, fair trade and ethical styles while alternative fashion fair "White in Milan" has created a new eco-fashion space called SloWhite. As ethical fashion slowly gains momentum in Korea, the exhibition provides a peek into how Korean and foreign designers are adopting the new principles. Most of the styles make use of materials that are recycled, eco-friendly, organic, or obtained through fair trade. But up-and-coming British designer Mark Liu goes a step further, creating designs with the concept of ``zero waste.'' In an interview with The Korea Times, Liu noted how 15 percent of the fabric used to make a garment is wasted from pattern cutting and sewing. For inspiration, he looked towards traditional Eastern designs such as the Japanese kimono and the Indian sari, which make use of the entire fabric in its design. ``I tried to hybridize these Eastern designs with Western ones. I wanted to create something brand-new, a new way of thinking in Western design where you design a piece of clothing to deliberately waste zero fabric,'' he said. Using a single piece of fabric, Liu uses what he describes as a ``jigsaw puzzle pattern,'' wherein all the pieces are put together in the final garment. He showed off several pretty black dresses with petal pattern designs. Even the material he uses is ``reclaimed,'' meaning it has been discarded and given away by textile companies. Liu currently only creates these designs by commission, but he may be doing a ``zero waste'' collection in India soon. ``It is still going to be a high fashion collection. But after that, there's nothing stopping us from making jeans or T-shirts commercially,'' he said. Fair Trade Designs From afar, you might think the chic metallic tote bags are nothing special. But upon closer scrutiny, you will find that they are made of hundreds of pieces of aluminum can tabs. These are part of Paris-based Brazilian designer Ana Paula Freitas' ``fair trade'' collection of trendy handbags, clutches and accessories. Freitas said the bags and accessories are all handmade by workers at a Brazilian women's labor cooperative. Consumers are not just buying the product, but are also helping to improve the lives of the workers. ``I developed a new, more fashionable collection with the cooperative. We work together. A lot of work goes into this because each tab is incorporated one by one. To make a tote bag like this, it takes 3 days and uses 1,000 tabs,'' Freitas said in an interview with The Korea times. Other designers and artists have found ingenious and practical ways of incorporating the principles of ethical fashion. The London-based design team of Orsola de Castro and Fillippo Ricci uses consumer-waste fabrics, swatches and production off-cuts to create high-end women's wear for their brand ``From Somewhere.'' Hong Sung-wan's men's wear collection uses only fair trade cotton fabric from Nepal, Bangladesh and India. Lee Kyumbie designed women's footwear using recycled packaging and banners, such as a fun pair of boots covered in a ramyeon-packaging design. Hong Kong's Movana Chen has been creating clothes by knitting shredded strips of glossy magazine paper since 2004. ``For this exhibition here, I used Korean magazines. The inspiration comes from the media and how the media gives us messages. It tells us what to buy, what to wear. But it also focuses on two-way communication. We don't understand the meaning of the (Korean) text, but you can see the colors, and it's another way of communicating with a different culture,'' Chen said. While ethical fashion is gaining ground mostly in Europe and United States, hopes are high that ethical fashion will spread throughout the world, including Asia. ``In Europe, people are very open to these kinds of things, like recycling and fair trade. In 2000, there was not so much of it but now it is everywhere,'' Freitas said. The ``Fashion Ethics: Wear Good'' exhibition runs through Oct. 4. Visit www.gmoma.org or call (031) 481-7007~9. cathy@koreatimes.co.kr Artist Fills Canvas with Chairs, Memories Jae J. Rhee is holding her first solo show at Art & Museum Gallery. / Courtesy of the artist By Cathy Rose A. Garcia Staff Reporter Chairs hold a special meaning for artist Jae J. Rhee. Tiny chairs made of toothpicks fill the canvas of her artworks, currently on display at her solo show ``Missing You'' at the Art & Museum Gallery, Yeoksam, Gangnam. ``The chair is a symbol of the place I can return to, like home. It's like I can always come back to the chair. It has a special meaning for me. When I was away from my then-boyfriend for six months, and he sent me a picture of the two empty chairs we used to sit in at his garden. It was very touching for me,'' she told The Korea Times over coffee in Chungmuro, Tuesday. In her artwork, the chairs represent the artist's memories of heartbreak and loss. Rhee admitted those painful memories influenced the choice of toothpicks to create the chairs. ``I tried various materials to make the chairs, like chopsticks, but toothpicks are perfect. The toothpick has a sharpened tip. It reflects the pain in my heart. At the gallery opening, one of the staff touched the work, and got hurt from touching the toothpick. There was blood. It's the painful touch that I wanted to express,'' she said. This is one of the "Missing You" works by Jae J. Rhee displayed at her solo show. / Courtesy of the artist The Art & Museum Gallery praised Rhee's work as showing her passionate and heartfelt view of life. ``Like present-day Korea, she displays her complex spirit through her art: the modern commercial design values, the new energy of the ascent of women in a global world, and kinship ties to her family, friends and culture,'' the gallery said in a statement. Rhee is an accomplished graphic designer who has worked in the U.S., U.K. and Mexico, but a few years ago she returned to Korea and decided to indulge in her real passion: art. Her art is obviously very personal. She tries to convey stories about her life and love on canvas. She even uses old handwritten letters from family, friends, and lovers as the background for the toothpick chairs. Even the title of the exhibition ``Missing You,'' reflects her feelings and how much she misses her family and friends. ``Everyone asks me, who is you. Everyone has someone they miss like your brother or father. I was away from Korea for a long time, and I missed my family, friends and boyfriend,'' Rhee said. Creating art was a form of catharsis for Rhee. She has been sorting over her past experiences especially the loss of two close loved ones over a 48-hour period. Starting work on an empty white canvas, Rhee revealed, was like going to confession before a priest. ``I was happy to put aside my past sins and create my artwork. For a long time I felt very guilty about their deaths, but during the opening of the exhibition, I could feel my guilt melting away,'' she said. The exhibition runs through Aug. 6 at Art & Museum Gallery, 1st floor Rubina Building, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam. Call (02) 561-6613. cathy@koreatimes.co.kr