Super Sketch

I had the opportunity to participate in really unique event in Busan this weekend.  It's dubbed the "super sketch," and is a meeting of live music and live art.  I've seen events like this in the past, and they've usually been pretty, well, uneventful.  It's difficult to coordinate such a thing, getting musicians and artists on the same page.  This gig was quite successful however, and I was lucky enough to be invited to this.  Myself along with my buddy Chris Cote managed to create a pretty excellent set.

The event is the idea of Sean Maylone, the founder of SuperColorSuper, an art and band promoter here in South Korea.  He (along with Britt McKee from Busan) helped organize the venue, the bands, and even set up an art market for all the artists participating to sell their work.   Even though he is constantly at risk of losing money on events like this he continues to push for a good indie/art scene here.  With the overwhelming power of K-Pop this is no small feat.

The name of the band we played with was sleepstalker.  The band consisted of only two (at least the night we worked with them) and played some beautiful shoegaze noise.  They are a Korean band, and though lingual communication between us was limited I feel like our art and their music went very well together.

I worked on about 9 different skulls for the event.  Utilizing two overhead projectors, Chris and I arranged, layered, folded, peeled, and manipulated the images for a 30 minute set.  We'd practiced some, but it was really a seat-of-your-pants type of show and we both finished the set feeling pretty good.  We received a lot of good feedback from those in attendance as well.

Here are some of the pics, credited to Beth.

This is not the band we performed with, but they were quite an act...it was a bit confusing to hear Koreans sing a blend of punk and traditional Irish music.  Complete with lute and banjo, this 6 piece was a ton of fun to watch.

Learned It

I've got a great group of artists that I meet with once a week here.  Under the handle "Art Beans" we make art, set up gallery shows, and publish magazines.  One of the most rewarding things however has been teaching children.  We found a way to teach Korean kids art, in English, every month or so.  We wanted to do this for a few reasons:  to give back to a Korea that has been so accommodating and so patient, and also to try and stir some creativity in the children.  When I first got here I found it so refreshing to find art supplies virtually everywhere...you can get a sketchbook and paint brushes at most of the convenient stores.  However, what's been really difficult is the lack of creativity in art here.  It's a skill focused medium in Korea, and for children that are so used to studying for tests and getting the "right" answer every time, it's difficult for them to think outside of the box.  I don't want to be misunderstood here; art is very much a part of school and society here, sometimes more so than at home, but if one chooses to be an artist there is a very distinct path they must walk down.  We wanted to give the kids a chance to do their own thing.

We've taught 4 of these now.  Mask making, shadow puppets, foam stamps, and abstract wax crayon art.  It's loads of fun.  The classes are held in the "culture center" in the Hyundai Department Store (yes, each Department store has an art center that offers yoga, cooking classes, and art classes here.  Can you imagine a Sears having a culture center?).

To teach this, we met Hyundai in the middle.  They wanted an English class, we wanted an Art class.  We agreed to teach art in english.  The parents are happy, the kids are happy, and the teachers are happy.