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.

Phil 'er up

Our trip to The Philippines was broken into three parts:  beach, jungle, and city.  

Beach

If you know me (which let's face it, if you are reading this you definitely do) you probably know that I don't like the beach.  The sun punishes me, I can't open my eyes underwater, and all that sand...I found Bill Hicks said it best:  "What's the big deal; it's where DIRT MEETS WATER."  

That being said, this was probably my best beach experience ever.  Even a sourpuss like me had a hard time being negative about this gorgeous beach.  We went to a small island off the north coast of Cebu.  Bantayan is an isolated little place, full of quaint resorts and fishermen.

These kids were trying to sail away in an old refrigerator.  They were having a blast.

The eeriest thing we saw were these fishermen.  They'd zoom past during most of the day, their heads fully covered straight terrorist style.  It was really difficult to look at them.

There aren't any taxis on the island, and the easiest way to get around is on these little tricycles.  The driver will take you around for little to no money, peddling as hard as he can.  It's a cutthroat business, when leaving our hotel it was brutal trying to be fair and choose the "first" one.  I love how the sidecar is heavily utilized in the Philippines.

 Jungle

From Bantayan we went to another part of Cebu, a much larger island named Bohol.  This island hosts The Chocolate Hills, a really strange natural mass of hills created by the ocean receding.  The hills were dense coral, and the water just went down around them.  We'd never seen anything quite like it.

We also saw Tarsiers.  I challenge anyone to find a cuter animal.  This is the smallest primate in the world.  They eat bugs at night and sleep all day.  Their eyes are about he size of a nickel, and their bodies are smaller than your fist.  We saw them at a sanctuary.  They're an endangered species (surprise!).

We ziplined across a breathtaking river.  It was actually quite relaxing.

Our hotel in Bohol had a giant pet albino python.  The owner told me they would feed him while we were there.  He went to the market, bought a live chicken, and threw it to the snake.  The snake was pretty hungry, I'd say he wrapped that bird up in less than a second.  It took him an hour to eat him.  It was pretty fascinating to watch.

Our hotel was on the river.  And when I say hotel, I really mean bungalow with a hose for a shower and a toilet that doesn't flush.  Still, with views like this it's worth it, right?

City

The Philippines has the highest Christian population of any southeast Asian country.  I attribute this to Spain and the US, both of which occupied the country for a time, introducing it.  Below is a motorized trike.  They litter the streets, and each have a different religious quote on back of them.  This one says "God is Love."

Each city has it's own "Fiesta," a party for different Saints.  We were in Tagbilaran for Fiesta, which wasn't exactly the party I was anticipating.  It consisted of a few boring bands and a ton of people selling used clothes.

One of my regrets from the trip is that I didn't get a great picture of a jeepney.  This is their version of mass transportation.  These buses are open air and incredibly ornate.  They are always packed to the gills.  The one we rode in had 33 people inside, with more hanging off the back.  An hour ride costs about $2.

Electioneering

A few weeks ago elections for each district (the same as counties) were held.  We started seeing people in sashes walking around promoting their candidate.  Each candidate is assigned a number (1-6) so that it's easier for people to choose the candidate on the ballot.  Also, cheering "1" over and over is way easier than "Park Ji Hyun."  In the US I guess the "6" candidate would have to think of something else as chanting "6, 6, 6!" would catch some flack from the religious right.

The people holding the yellow signs are waiting at the opposite side of the crosswalk.  Once you're allowed to cross, the whole row would simultaneously bow to you, and then you had to find your way around them.  The sign gives the county (Seongseo-gu) and the candidate's name (Chung Sin Sul).

The coolest part of this campaigning was that they had dancing middle aged ladies being carted around in the back of trucks, blasting a loud speaker with the candidate's (theme?) song.  Within 2 weeks of the elections the streets were littered with these things.

Each candidate had an impressive amount of volunteers, ready to dance and cheer for hours on end for their candidate.

                                      

Outside of our school there's a very popular outdoor market that shows up every Monday.  Because of the  massive foot traffic, each candidate wheeled their trucks and volunteers to the entrance of the market and queued up there to get some exposure.  It wasn't very organized.  Often there were two trucks playing their songs simultaneously, right next to each other.  Their attempt to drown out the other candidate made for some serious noise pollution.  This carried on until the sun went down.

I guess the strangest part of all of this was this one truck that had people dressed up as animals.  It's very probable that these characters relate to some Korean traditional story, or that the animals represent things like virtue or power.  However, if this were the case it was all lost on me.  All I saw was a few 

creepy adults dressed in costumes.

P.S.  The next president of Korea will most likely be a woman.