Insadong again

The very next day after I visited Insadong, I went back in order to exchange a t-shirt I bought for a bigger size. This time I brought my new friend and co-worker Garrett with me. I've been trying to help Garrett get acquainted to his new life in Korea. It's been a lot of fun to play host.


One of the traditional Korean crafts you can find in Insadong are these products made out of paper. This particular store sells lamps like I bought last week, end tables like the ones in this photo, and clothes dressers. They are covered with a protectant that allows you to wipe them clean with a damp towel. Pretty cool, but expensive for the larger items.


I showed this photo to one of my students. She said the big face looks scary. I think it looks happy. Definitely on my "cool" list. It's about 18" tall and 12" wide. It's pretty heavy too, being made of solid wood. It's not a traditional Korean mask either, but I think it was made by a Korean artist.


This is one of the many crafts people who are busy creating their goods while selling them. This man was selling the image of the goblin faces, various carvings, and some nice looking pencil holders. The face is called Dokkaebi (도깨비) and when the image is hung in a house, the goblin creature protects the home.


This is a metal statue of a dragon that I thought was interesting. It's about 3 feet (1 meter) tall. I asked how much... $1500. I don't really have room for that thing in my apartment, but it would be really cool to have.


I don't recall seeing this the day before. Probably because it was raining then.


After returning from Insadong, we walked around town to find a good restaurant. We passed by this one that was closed on Sundays. As far as personality goes, this restaurant looks promising. Restaurants and bars with personality are few and far between in Korea.


We decided to eat Sam Gyeop Sal (삼겹살), a barbecued pork meal that is really common. I took this photo to document Garrett's sweating face as he muscled down some really hot peppers. We stayed out longer than is smart to do on a Sunday night which made Monday an extra long day.

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.

Fukuoka Visa Run (Part 2)

In this post I will show some of the Art I came across in Fukuoka.

I have a new interest in what I call "city art", the artwork that you come across in cities. There is probably an official name of that style of art, but I haven't learned it yet. I have been taking a few photographs of this sort of art in Seoul and will eventually upload the photos I take.


This first photo is from the area outside of the Fukuoka Dome, where baseball games are played. It is also close to the Hardrock Cafe.


I found this in the city center. There is another matching "pissing boy fountian" on the other side. In Korea, they don't make fountains like this because you can see people pissing on the side of the street on any given night. ;-)


This thing was on display in the Fukuoka airport. It is carried on a large rack in a street parade by a bunch of men and while 3 men sit near the edge of the front of the rack. I know this because there are two pictures of it being used on display as well. I couldn't figure out what the celebration it is used for is about.

On one side is a red figure and on the other is a blue figure.