Let's face it: breakups are hard. They suck! They really really suck a lot. And finding your stride as a newly reinstated 'singleton' after a breakup can seem like an insurmountable tasks at first. A lot has been written, filmed, directed, painted and sung over the years about the heartbreak of breaking things off with someone you love. Unfortunately for me, it's because most of those unbridaled negative emotions are true. The upside in this situation are that my feelings are certainly not unique. It seems to me that as often as people have made art to express the joys of love, they have made an equal amount to express the pain and sufffering of heartbreak. While I do not feel the need to express my sadness through my art, I have put a lot of energy into reinvesting, time and energy into the things that make me a unique and happy as a person. January has nearly gone and although my goals for the New Year are still a bit fuzy around the edges, they are there and now it's up to me to carry them out.
Live music as I have stated before is one of those things that gets to me and inspires me unlike almost anything else on this planet. I went to a pretty good concert a couple of weeks ago promoted by the Indie Kings of Seoul 'Super Color Super'. They had invited the group 'Lymbyc System' to play a series of small gigs across Korea. The small venue in Hongdae 'Salon badabie' was cramped as could be and filled with eager music viewers. The opening bands were really good and the show (although slightly short) was entertaining and had a good vibe. I really admire what S.C.S. is doing by trying to bring the kinds of bands and music scene to Korea which is desperately missing and mostly unavailable in the overtly K-Pop saturated music industry. I'm excited for their winter lineup and upcoming shows like the Japandroids. http://supercolorsuper.com/
Having lost rather a large chunk of my social network (not being brave enough to go out and party in Incheon lest I possibly run into Ryno), I have found getting out and being social a bit of a challenge recently. I would not say that my confidence is at it's peak and that can come across to others as being cold or withdrawn; which makes going out and being open, friendly and sociable almost impossible. Thankfully, I have had the support of a couple of great people in the last while and I can only hope that in time, I will be ready to get out there and be adventurous again. For the time being however, I am content spending most of my days with my books, my music and my canvases!
In an attempt to distract myself from moping and rather give myself a reason to celebrate and push my career and confidence forward, I have given myself the challenge of creating a professional Gallery exhibition over my winter break. After presenting my portfolio to a gallery director at the beginning of the month, I was booked for a solo painting exhibition at the I-Gallery in the Insa-dong neighbourhood of Seoul, set for the end of March 2013!! iGallery, Insadong
아이갤러리, 인사동
Here is one of the first canvases from the series. The tentative title so far is "Permission to Play'. I was inspired when I went to Anseong and saw Nicola and Jaco building their snowman for the first time and having fun in the process of playing in the snow. It was such a strange sight to see adults slipping into what we would consider a childs' role. When we encounter or experience something for the fisrt time, there is an innocence as well as a determination in the act that can't be faked or reproduced. So if I can capture that juxtaposition of roles and that universal quality of exploration and play then I will have done a good job.
Therefore, I have been spending a great deal of my time in the last several weeks negotiating the old and new. Painting is something that I have done a lot in the past, but very little in Korea. I have also not had a studio level of production since the last year of my undergrad degree over 6 years ago!! All this has combined to make this past month a strange combination of the familiar and new.
While I am sad in a way not to be going off to some exotic location on a romantic vacation with my lover (now my ex-lover), a part of me embraces that it is this pain and unrest that has driven me to throw myself head first into my work again seriously for the first time since moving to Korea. The outcome will hopefully reflect all the work that has gone into the project so far and all the hours of work that are yet to come. After all, I am still young and there will be other romantic vacations in far off and exotic destinations. For now, I will have to content myself with dreaming them up and watching shows about other people traveling.
PS. If you like food and finding out about new and interesting cultures, you should really check out the show "No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain". they are really great! http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/anthony-bourdain That is all for now folks.
