Korea-Day 1 Heyri Art Village

Today Wendy’s adorable daughter, Betsy, took us to Heyri Art Village. It is very close to the DMZ and North Korea. As always, she took the best care of us, including our trusted driver from last year-none other than the fabulous Mr. Kong, and his Jumbo Taxi.

Heyri Art Village is a huge place, a conglomeration of galleries, artist’s studios, eateries, museums, performance spaces, fountains, shops and the most fantasmagorical contemporary architecture in one place! It would be hard to imagine this place, in your wildest dreams. Someone, or a lotta someones had a unique vision.

Besides all of the above, there is a huge component for children, that we didn’t even attempt. We saw a lot of it in one day, but it could take you a month to see it all. We amazed ourselves, because it was hotter than blazes, and humid as hell. In an entire day, we did a little better than scratch the surface.

We all agreed that Museum of Modern History of Korea was the hit of the day. We saw vignette after vignette of scenes from the daily life of workers, objects and artifacts of every size shape and color, beautifully displayed.

 spines of sketchbooks

rows of 'tars for Desmond

We cooled down with an umpteen course lunch at a beautiful restaurant and gallery, that Betsy skillfully picked for us.

 front window of restaurant

Kim-we had a good laugh at this “jelly”. It had ribs in it, so it was fairly easy to pick up with the stainless steel chopsticks.

After lunch, we went to the Shin Han art gallery, and met artist Hoon Lee. His show is Murmur, Murder and Mother, an installation of ceramic art. He is a Korean, teaching in Michigan. We enjoyed talking with him, and one of my favorite pieces of music was playing in the gallery, the Brahms Opus 118. To top it all off, Hoon Lee let me chuck a slip cast religious figurine over the balcony of the second floor of the gallery down into his installation below. It made a marvelous thunk and shattered adding to the piece! A collaboration in two seconds from chuck to splat.

 We saw some terrific glass pieces set in concrete, and some interesting stained glass sandwiched between cast paper.

We visited a gallery called Touch Art, and were intrigued by some 3D works by Lee, Jaewon.

 Lee, Jaewon with Betsy reflection lower left

 We went down to have some iced mocha frappacinos and a green tea ice cream, red bean ice delicacy, which chilled us down.

Installed on the wall, I recognized a Lee, Jaehyo work. I am a fan! I bought the catalogue, and noticed that his work is in some collections in Seoul, so we hope to see more in a week or so, when we return to Seoul.

 detail Lee, Jaehyo

me and the iPhone getting acquainted

The Women of Wax Works West loving this fence!