Insadong 'City Art'

Here is a set of Jangseung (장승) displayed near the entrance of Insadong which is a famous area of Seoul for its art culture.

This is what is posted on Wikipedia about Jangseung:

A jangseung or village guardian is a Korean totem pole usually made of wood. Jangseungs were traditionally placed at the edges of villages to mark for village boundaries and frighten away demons. They were also worshipped as village tutelary deities.

When you come to Insadong you can find antiques, traditional art objects, and some modern art objects. You might think that every other young Korean you see has an expensive camera hanging from their neck, but you would be wrong. It's actually every fourth or fifth. :-)

Basically, it's an art area. I've bought some REALLY cool stuff here.


This piece of 'city art' is just across the road from the totems. It's a big paint brush with a stroke of paint. In fact, the name of the sculpture is "With A Stroke". The paint is actually a pool of water that comes bubbling up from the starting point of the paint and drains under the brush. When I took this photo, it was raining. So, the whole base looks glossy, but I think only the paint was intended to appear glossy. Either way, the water flowing around the brush stroke gives the sculpture a nice animation. On the other side of the brush handle was a thermometer built into the handle.

This is the coolest city art I've ever seen.


This piece is located along the busy street of Insadong.