Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chossmonkey]

For those of you in Korea. Do you know of any resources for sculpting suplies like oil based clay and mold making matierial? What about Bronze and aluminum foundries?

Also, are the galleries hard to get into there? I've shown at a number of galleries in Dallas. Is there a sight that lists galleries in English so I can make my rounds and drop off my buisiness card when I'm not teaching?


For the Busan crew..
I'm curious about how difficult it will be to find studio space once I move to Busan. The work I do is 90% sculpture So I need a little more space than just my appartment. If there are places that also have some tools as part of the deal like a guild or something, that would be great too.

[chossmonkey]

Oh god! I just read my post. I'm sure that I'm qualified to be an English teacher now!

[OnTheOtherSide]

The art scene in Korea is like a somebody stuck out in the desert with no water and a canteen full of vodka he can't resist. Look for the mirage brutha.

[Stevie_B]

[chossmonkey]

yeah, i'm not sure what that post means either. it could mean that you can't resist creating art in korea, or it could mean that vodka is art in a bottle.

[OnTheOtherSide]

That's the beauty of it.

[Stevie_B]

[OnTheOtherSide]

[chossmonkey]

I think you're confusing "art" for "retarded". They may be similar, but they are not the same.

[ardis]

This new art teacher came to my school this year and I was shocked that he's an actual ARTIST, not just a lame art teacher. He's had a million exhibits in Seoul and does mainly bronze sculpture based around the human form. I was so surprised that he was so talented, actually, since when I think of "middle school art teacher", I don't usually think of "fantastic sculptor."

[Fishead soup]

There are some commercial art galleries in Insadong. They won't allow you an exhibition based on merit. They ask for cash upwards of at least a million won for a two week exhibition.

Then again you can always offer to pose nude for Nancy Lang.

[Rteacher]

Yeah, it's hard to find galleries anywhere that take works on consignment, and the rents tend to be expensive.

When I first came to Korea, I joined a non-profit artists organization (run by an artist who was also a military contractor) called the Seoul International Visual Artists Society (SIVAS), but I think they disbanded when the contractor left Korea.

They used to get artspace in various buildings for group and individual shows by using the charity angle of donating a significant amount to help feed North Korean orphans.

There are some other non-profit ventures -especially near Hongik University - that promote emerging artists (mainly -but not exclusively - Koreans), but the waiting list for show space is long.

From time to time I've seen ads promoting artist associations for expats in English magazines (like Groove) that are distributed around Itaewon, but I've never checked them out.

[moosehead]

you might want to check out the Gwangju Biennale due again this fall.

see here:

http://www.gwangju-biennale.org/2008gb/eng/

and the one in 2006

http://www.gb.or.kr/eng/index.asp


while this is international in scope, there are of course K artists featured and a lot of sculpture is usually exhibited. you can network there.

there's a very nice museum in Pusan, a big one, but I don't recall the exact title, you'll find it I'm sure once you're there. but you'll be shocked at how mainstreams Ks view art, mostly it's deemed entertainment and a status symbol, not true appreciation and knowledge (other than of course a lot of memorization - you'll find that out later); it's an entirely different story however among the artists themselves, like anywhere else.,

as for space, the further you are from any large city the larger your apt should be but you never know of course. best thing to do is try and get your own space eventually.

I wouldn't start investing, however, in equipment or rental space due to the incredibly untrustworthiness of Ks in general. you'll want to make sure things are tight at your school so not to get stranded!

get to know some folks and make a deal with some artists would be my advice - I did that within the photo community and rented a darkroom; later he refused to charge me at all and then helped me w/an exhibit. this is when culture really gets interesting - i.e., this person's E was extremely limited but we got on very well.

pm me when you arrive and are settled in if you like, maybe we can meet up at the Gwangju Biennale - it's halfway between Pusan and Seoul, more or less.

cheers!

[chossmonkey]

thanks for the input so far, i've been getting a lot of good info from different sources, but still nothing on foundries in Busan. Also if anyone sees anything in an ex pat zine post it up here. I wont have access to them until I get there in about a month.