We spent some of the morning exploring ‘Art Street’ near our hotel but we really didn’t think much of the art – according to the Rough Guide, all the real artists have left the area and, to be honest, it looks like it. (Let us know in the comments if you want to see some of the ‘art’).
Instead, we thought we would focus on an excellent exhibition on hyperrealism in the Gwangju Art Museum. To set it in context, here’s the blurb:
These three and the opening one are by an Australian artist called Sam Jinks:
We loved these side-eyes from strong assertive girls by Spanish artist Pablo Jurado Ruiz:
And then a wonderful Korean artist, An Jun Hwan with a gorgeous approach to nature:
We also loved this Japanese artist’s approach to light (Hashimoto Daisuke):
We were a bit creeped by Jimi Hendrix (American artist Kazu Hiro):
And finally, a bit of fun from American artist Marc Dennis:
Just so you don’t get the impression that this is all we saw, We are not sharing the 3D movies of praying mantises and stick insects which were truly creepy; nor the Italian pretentious nonsense that purported to be about the relationship between Turin and Gwangju; nor the Mongolian videos of people eating intestines in the snow. So count yourselves lucky!
Here are some frogs though – we loved them! The Korean artist was Kim Young Sung:
I do, I do – count myself lucky! Hyperrealism IS often creepy – uncanny valley syndrome… one wonders how this work relates to its immediate sourroundings… For a UK-variant: Tom Ostler…
What a wonderful exhibition! Amazing that so many people are working in this area since Ron Mueck inaugurated it back in the 90s (his Dead Dad sculpture is still staggeringly moving) and come to think of it that first photograph shows a piece which is something of a rip-off of one of Mueck’s works except his is nowhere near as grand! Not so sure about the landscape paintings – you marvel at the skill but it raises the old question of what the point is in an age of photography.