Art Toy Culture @ Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Seoul, being the wonderful playground it is, always has somewhere to go and something to see even if you aren’t expecting it. Last weekend my girlfriend and I geared up to head out to a café outside of Seoul. Unfortunately it turned out it was further than we realized and we decided to get off at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (the new spaceship parked in the center of Seoul’s Dongdaemun shopping district). We wandered a bit and finally ended up in front of a large banner, crowds and figurines guarding an entrance.

“Welcome to Art Toy Culture.”

Immediately upon entering we were greeted with the smell of acetone, markers and acrylics; all the reasons I don’t work with ‘street art’ anymore. A handful of exhibitionists were working on designed metal boxes near the front. Later on we found out that these were small mini-fridges for Red Bull drinks… disappointing. The rest of the exhibition was awesome, though.

Artists had set up booths in the center of the showroom floor while the walls were mostly reserved for showcasing works by different artists. The booths had glass (plastic?) cases showing off samples and actual figurines or statues for sale. There were a few that seemed to be only for show but those were few and far between. Unfortunately we were there for the last day so most of the booths were wiped… not that I would be able to find a decent excuse for spending $100+ on figurines, even if they looked this awesome.

While a lot of the figures were hyper-realistic or somewhat anime/cartoon styled, there were more than enough booths with parodies or interesting new styles to keep the entire experience feeling fresh. More than a few times I would drift from a booth with cool realistic looking figures to one with simple and almost cartoonish proportions just because of the stylized work.

The highlight of the show were the showcases lining the walls with figurines and sets. A few were just pieces from specific artists catalogs of work while others were entire sets or scenes from movies (the Robocop one was awesome). Most of the time there were crowds and lines just to see some of the more popular pieces but it was pretty cool to see them up close and in detail.

Unfortunately the show is over now, it was only from May 1^st to May 5^th. I had known about it earlier during my research for my magazine but I didn’t realize how short it was. I lucked into it, but anyone who didn’t go will have to wait until next year.

Until then, feel free to take a look around browse the photos that I could take. Cheers!

Victorian Futurism @ the Seoul Art Center

Whether you’re interested in fantasy or the alternative (read: fringe) sciences, ‘steampunk’ is a pretty cool concept. Similar to proponents of Nikola Tesla, ‘steampunk’ imagines a world powered by steam and pressurized fluid engineering rather than fossil fuels or electricity. The practicality of such a world might be up for debate, but that hasn’t stopped people from imagining what that world would look like.

Since March, the Seoul Arts Center (예술의전당) has been hosting an exhibit called, ‘The Art of Victorian Futurism’ which is otherwise known as steampunk art. The exhibit contains photos, paintings, drawings and other 2D works but the show-stoppers are the sculptures, figurines and other spotlighted works.

All of the works are incredibly interesting, from the steampunk laser canon to the figurines of small robotic animals but my favorites of the show were the motorcycle and scooter which take center stage inside the hall. Each was retrofitted and rebuilt with amazing results. If Dr. Who rode a motorcycle, this would be it.

The rest of the exhibition splits focus between framed prints and sculptures, installation art, and figurines. While the pictures were interesting to look at, some of the figurines and sculptures were truly engaging and take your imagination for a ride. While there were a few strange sections, specifically one dedicated to lamps, the rest of the exhibit is incredibly imaginative.

The exhibit has a W 12,000 entrance fee but there are several discounts available. One in particular is a ticket, available at a lot of shops and cafes, which offers foreigners a W 2,000 discount. The entire exhibit takes about an hour to walk through, more if you’re inclined to take lots of photos and less if you can beat the crowd. Either way, it’s a fun way to spend part of your weekend afternoon if you’re so inclined. The exhibit will be at the SAC until May 18th.

Scroll down to the bottom for a map with the location of the SAC.

A Dog Day Afternoon

The WORLD [as i’ve seen it]

I haven’t been traveling the world much (or very long for that matter) but I wanted to post up the pictures that I did have as sort of a “Best Of…”

In reality I’ve only been to Germany and since I currently live and travel around South Korea, that’s really just it. I want to do some more traveling (hopefully Japan again in January, but I’ll have a camera this time) but I’ll definitely have some more pictures from Germany when I go back this November.

For now these are my favorite photos from the World, at least as I’ve seen it.

Stereo Hearts

I was surfing around the Billboard Top 100 (my source for up to date American music) and I came across “Stereo Hearts” by Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine (of Maroon 5 fame). Honestly, one listen wasn’t enough and I found myself hooked. It took a few hours but here’s a rough of something that I came up with while listening.