The Korea Times

Art meets reality TV

  Television art contest stirs up controversyBy Kwon Mee-yoo Yoo Jin-sangWoo Jung-ahHong Kyoung-hanKoreans love reality competition shows. While this is true for many countries, there’s a palpable verve here for watching contestants sing, dance or cook their way into the hearts of the judges and nation.Like them or not, such programs are a major launching pad for the careers of talented individuals or groups. A perfect example is Busker Busker, the troubadours who won fame when they came in runner-ups on on the show “Superstar K.”But what happens when you introduce massive public scrutiny and competition to the world of fine art?An upcoming reality show, “Art Star Korea,” is stirring debate because it will pit painters, sculptors and other artists against each other in competition. While the creators believe it will bring more attention to artists, critics fear it may impose an overly commercial element in the artistic community.Slated to broadcast in late March, the show is a product of StoryOn, a channel of media and entertainment giant

Feb 13, 2014By Kwon Mee-yoo

Arts & Theater

Veteran actress shows her range in 'Fairy'

Kim Song-nyo shines in the monodrama, “A Fairy in the Wall.” / Courtesy of Myeongdong TheaterBy Kwon Mee-yoo Kim Song-nyo is one of the greatest actors of her generation and certainly among the most versatile. Making her first stage appearance at the age of five, she has become perhaps the country’s most important performer in traditional plays such as “madangnori” (outdoor play, song and dance) and “changgeuk” (pre-modern form of opera) and an influential figure in modern drama.The 63-year-old’s talents were on full display in the one-woman show, “A Fairy in the Wall,” which she will perform through Sunday at Myeongdong Theater in Seoul.Kim says the new play felt like a summary of her four-decade career. To audiences, it is an opportunity to watch her unique stage talents.The play requires her to portray 32 different characters in 135 minutes, beginning with a five-year-old girl who chats about her belief in fairies to her frustrated mother and eventually a man who spends 40 years living in a wall to protect his family

Feb 12, 2014By Kwon Mee-yoo

Veteran actress shows her range in 'Fairy'

Arts & Theater

Art in turn-of-century Vienna

Replicas of Egon Schiele’s “Selfportrait with Chinese Lanterns. / Courtesy of Leopold Museum Vienna, Neue Galerie New YorkKlimt, Schiele featured in new Seoul Arts Center exhibitionBy Kwon Mee-yooAustrian artist Gustav Klimt and his former student Egon Schiele are revered among art fans around the world, but particularly beloved in Korea. There are only a few works in modern art that are recognized here as ubiquitously as Klimt’s "The Kiss.’’ Schiele’s paintings continue to be overused in magazines, postcards and home decor products sold in e-mart. However, the local popularity of these Austrian artists, who had definitive influence in the art of turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna, had been matched with a paucity of exhibitions. The Seoul Arts Center’s "Golden Age Stories,’’ which continues through March 10 and features reproduced masterpieces of Klimt and Schiele approved by the Austrian government, represents the first Klimt-related display in Korea since 2009. Gustav Klimt’s “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” will be on displ

Feb 2, 2014By Kwon Mee-yoo

Arts & Theater

How can I resist you?

British actress Sara Poyzer, left, playing the role of Donna in the current Mamma Mia! tour in Korea, poses with Korean actress Park Ji-yeon, who frequently performed as Sophie in previous local productions./ Courtesy of Lee Soo-jin'Mamma Mia' actresses discuss musical’s allure on 10th anniversary of Korean stagingBy Kwon Mee-yoo"Mamma Mia!,’’ a love story set to ABBA songs, has been seen by more than 50 million people around the world since its 1999 debut. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of its arrival in Korea, one of Asia’s most lucrative musical markets, a team of international actors has been staging a new run that continues through March 23 in Seoul, before heading to Daegu.British actress Sara Poyzer has been playing the role of Donna Sheridan in the touring production. In an interview with The Korea Times, she said she’s been impressed by the passion of Korean audiences.Korean actress Park Ji-yeon, who played the role of Sophie, Donna’s cheery and adventurous daughter, from 2010 to 2012, also joined the conversation."I was told that (

Jan 24, 2014By Kwon Mee-yoo

K-pop

A cultural critical mass

Those close to folk-rock singer Kim Kwang-seok, who committed suicide in January 1996, said he was troubled by his albums’ lack of commercial success. His albums, including remastered works, have sold more than 5 million copies since. / Korea Times fileThe rise of Kim Kwang-seok's posthumous career By Kwon Mee-yooEighteen years after his death, folk-rock singer Kim Kwang-seok continues to enjoy a highly-lucrative posthumous career.Kim Chang-ki, a close friend of the late singer who wrote many of his influential songs, sounds rather frustrated by it.“I remember seeing Kwang-seok in December 1995, a few weeks before his death. His album wasn’t doing well and he was personally in distress,” he said in a recent television interview.“If people were going to like him as much as they do now, why couldn’t have they liked him a little earlier? After leaving the man entirely burned out and consumed ... all this talk about the greatness of his songs... I find this amusing.”While it’s debatable whether Kim Chang-ki, leader and vocalist of

Jan 19, 2014By Kwon Mee-yoo

Arts & Theater

Crime, lies and desire in 'Chicago'

Choi Jung-won, left, plays Velma Kelly in the current Korean production of “Chicago” opposite Lee Honey, as Roxie Hart, at the Haeoreum Theater of the National Theater of Korea in Seoul. / Courtesy of Seensee CompanyBy Kwon Mee-yooThe latest staging of "Chicago,’’ the musical about imprisoned showgirls Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart milking their infamy to extend their limelight exposure, comes at a time when the Korean media has been enjoying a full-blown buffet on celebrity crime.Cha No-ah, a 24-year-old professional video game player and more famously the son of actor Cha Seung-won, is facing accusations of kidnapping and raping a 19-year-old woman. He has denied the charges, according to police, but his father issued an apology for ``causing concern’’ anyway.Earlier this year, Park Si-hoo, another actor, was investigated on suspicions that he raped a trainee actress, although the woman eventually dropped the charges.This is not to compare these men against the make-believe stories of Kelly and Hart, who combined to murder three people in a rage of

Aug 4, 2013By Kwon Mee-yoo

Arts & Theater

Pointed toes, pointed lens

Jordan Matter’s “Double Take”Photographer captures ballerina Kim Joo-won in urban landscapeBy Kwon Mee-yooKim Joo-won, Korea’s most high-profile ballet dancer, dressed stunningly in red and black, leaps elegantly in the middle of Gwanghwamun Plaza, the massive pedestrian area in the heart of Seoul.Capturing her every move is photographer Jordan Matter, who recently celebrated the opening of his first exhibition in Korea at the Savina Museum of Contemporary Art.The idea to photograph Kim and other dancers adding color and grace to the grey city was inspired by Annmaria Mazzini’s iconic image of dancers in front of Macy’s in New York, used on the cover of Matter's book, “Dancers Among Us.”But the shooting last Friday wasn’t planned in advance. The concept sprang to Matter’s mind during a day-long photo shoot of Seoul’s famous landmarks when he saw a red umbrella within a stream of pedestrians. Kim and Pennsylvania Ballet soloist Park Jong-suk were happy participants.Jordan Matter’s “Taken”“I never

Jul 30, 2013By Kwon Mee-yoo

Arts & Theater

Balanced to perfection: Definitive works of Calder displayed at Leeum

In the above photo taken in 1954, Sculptor Alexander Calder holds his mobile “21 Feuilles Blanches.” Courtesy of Calder Foundation and Artists Rights SocietyBy Kwon Mee-yooAlexander Calder, the American sculptor famous for inventing moving mobiles, once described his creations as poetry that dance with the “joy of life and surprise.”While Calder died in 1976, his words live again in the latest exhibition at Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, downtown Seoul, where art lovers can enjoy a rare opportunity to observe the definitive works of the prolific artist.Simply titled “Calder,” the exhibition revisits how Calder invented kinetic art and how his influence reshaped contemporary art.“Calder began his career in the 1920s, but his works still feel fresh to the contemporary public because of his strength as a pioneer and dedication to innovation that continued throughout his life,” said Tae Hyun-sun, Leeum’s chief curator. “Small Feathers” (1931)The exhibit features some of Calder’s earliest paintings and wire sculpt

Jul 21, 2013By Kwon Mee-yoo

Balanced to perfection: Definitive works of Calder displayed at Leeum

Arts & Theater

A talk shop fun and weird

Gu Min-ja’s “General Assembly” is a part of the artist’s collaboration with her parents. / Courtesy of Artsonje CenterArtists, parents forge a 'hesitant dialogue' through art By Kwon Mee-yooContemporary art seems increasingly to reflect the social and political realities of our times. Still, the daily lives of the artists who produce these works continue to remain an enigma to the rest of the world — including even their parents.“Our Hesitant Dialogue,” a new exhibition at Artsonje Center in Seoul, is a delightful project that pairs artists with their parents and requires them to collaborate in producing new art.The project forced the parents to understand what their children were trying to convey through their works, which were often too convoluted for them to comprehend.As for the artists? Well, can there be a more difficult working environment — whether you’re a painter facing an empty canvas or an office drone behind a monitor — than when every little thing has to go through mom and dad?The end product seems to be w

Jul 15, 2013By Kwon Mee-yoo

Arts & Theater

Theatergoers all for revolution, love and music

“A Tale of Two Citizens” will be staged through Aug. 11 at the Charlotte Theater in southern Seoul. / Korea Times fileThe musicals involve different historical events surrounding the French RevolutionBy Kwon Mee-yooAs we approach another anniversary of the French Revolution, the 18th-century event that laid the foundation for modern democracies, Korean theatergoers seem to be fully swept up in the spirit.Theater buffs continue to line up for epic shows such as “Les Miserables,” “A Tale of Two Cities” and the “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” musicals either based on the French Revolution and its surrounding events, or borrowing some elements from it.The musicals share common elements — conflict between the classes, anger of the common people and their violent attempts to topple the elite, and, of course, stories of love. Interestingly, however, the pieces each portray a different stage of the upheaval, which erupted in 1789 and continued for a decade.The French Revolution is not the central subject of “A Tale of Two Citizens,”

Jul 12, 2013By Kwon Mee-yoo

Kwon Mee-yoo

Read more

Art meets reality TV

Veteran actress shows her range in 'Fairy'

Art in turn-of-century Vienna

How can I resist you?

A cultural critical mass

Crime, lies and desire in 'Chicago'

Pointed toes, pointed lens

Balanced to perfection: Definitive works of Calder displayed at Leeum

A talk shop fun and weird

Theatergoers all for revolution, love and music

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