Day 2: Seoul (March 15)

Day 2: Seoul

While grandma and grandpa are out chasing art, we have work to do...what's our password again? 

What makes a great art day?

Weather: Cold and hazy. The locals are telling us that their city has been swamped by pollution from the many southern China factories in use. Since it rained last night and visibility is pretty bad, THB is starting to believe this urban myth. Seoul to Shanghai is less than 700 miles.

What makes a great art day? A two-headed bubble boy deer?

 Quote of the Day:  Michelin stars? How is that possible?

A great night’s sleep for THB and DB! Damn…of course, maybe staying up for what seemed like 28 hours straight had something to do with it. In any case, we’re at the Fitness Center at 6am, eaten our (included) breakfast (udon for THB, DB makes her own granola, pasties and cafe au laits for both), ready to hit the streets for a day of chasing art.

We had a great art day.

Ria on the left

Ria is our guide for the day and, after a day with Ria, it is pretty clear she is a cheerful zero. Among other things, we can tell she doesn’t know much about the current Seoul art scene or art, no grasp of food and took us to museum full of relics and modern, not contemporary, art.

When we met up in the lobby at a little after 9, Ria was staring at her phone, never looking up to see if an aging pair of gringos were wandering around looking for their guide. She was cheerful and remained so during the day.

Ria also hired a driver as well for a bit less than $300/day, touring in a car that sleeps 7 (remember we’re down two fellow travelers).  The driver (no English) turned out to be a necessity: he and Ria seemingly had to analyze each stop for viability and location even when we were within a few yards of our destination (meaning that if we were on our own we probably would have given up after getting very close). And, the traffic was horrendous and there was constant re-routing to keep us moving. Without the car we would have probably skipped most of the morning stops though using the metro might have worked (and kept us underground, so no watching the city pass us by).

And we had a great art day...read on:

Not easy to find the gallery entrance, the sign is hiding in the stairwell

Unusual: the one pot per cup approach

Note the "code" on the bottom, known only to the artist

Even after arriving at our first stop, it isn’t easy to find the LVS Gallery though we are on the right small block, maybe 20 yards away. It’s in the basement of a 5 story building, in a large space. DB tracked them down because we had seen them at Collect in early 2018. The current exhibit is work by young/student artists, and we buy two unusual cups (coded on the bottom, his/her name is only in Korean). The gallerist, Phoebe, went to college in Chicago and she seemed more American than Korean.

Detailing on the right

Less than 5 miles away is the Gallery Wannmul. It is also hard to find and we’re parked right in front. It turns out this gallery is in a small building behind the building on the street; two guys are detailing a car in the car port next to the gallery. Great disguise for a gallery!

The featured artist is Yuri Jung and the work is intriguing: looks like purses and is made out of metal and fabric and laminate and is very light weight. While they can be used as purses (if you live in a really safe country like Korea and Japan, since the purse can't be closed), they make more sense as display pieces (e.g, for flowers) or on their own. Hard to take good pics, which adds to the intrigue: they look a lot better live; about $800-1000 per piece.

The work is a series of individual numbers flashing in the walkway approaching the entrance. Pics don't work, we've seen similar work in Japan

From there we head to the Leeum Samsung Museum, owned by the Samsung family. $9pp entry fee (THB turns down the senior discount, as always). Right up front, we see a piece by DB’s Cheosbeonjjae (Number One), Kohei Nawa (aka, Bubble Boy). Good news: it is in the lobby and pics are allowed. Otherwise no pics elsewhere inside the building other than in the “bridge” between Museums one and two.

Eliasson "Gravity Stairs" ... pics allowed

Even selfies

And the building is very well designed by Rem Koolhas and two other architects. It does suffer from a THB fatal flaw: even the really old stuff is shown in dim light, and the attributions in both the old and new wings are impossible to read. Arghhhh.

In the contemporary wing, work by lesser known Korean artists is melded in with work by famous well known modern artists (e.g., Twombly, De Kooning, Still, et al). THB does not think this worked for either group.  

Now we head to lunch, in the “old” town section we toured yesterday (lots of those rental attires…we learn they get you in free at the old re-created palace), at a Michelin starred place called Yongsusan, reco'd by Ria. We order similar tasting menus, $30pp (no drinks other than tea) which are identical except we order different main courses. THB is not going to post pics nor describe the courses as the meal, the service, and even the place settings weren’t good (tatty mats?) were well below par.

Ria’s explanation of what we are eating is not good, and in general the concept of Michelin stars was so degraded that THB is worried it has tainted all the other chefs graduating from the same culinary college (whoa, THB got confused for a second with the latest college admissions scandal). The low prices and the patched over menus was also a big tip-off.

Here's one example: THB orders cooked rice in broth as his main, DB orders cold buckwheat noodles. Both tasteless, they are accompanied by condiments so each diner can season the dish to his/her/their taste. DB's condiments: regular old mustard and plain white vinegar. THB did a bit better, with Korean condiments. How much to add of each? No clue. Michelin must think that is fine dining.

Tasteless toasted rice and condiments

Tasteless noodles

Okay one pic that explains the star:

Half a cherry tomato rice cake for dessert...the only dessert

We had a great art day (not so great food day)

DB found another 2018 Collect exhibitor for us to visit: OMA Space. Oma (she goes by only one name) has a small couture and ready-to-wear line with studios in Seoul and London; she worked under Alexander McQueen…like how THB can sling the fashionista name-dropping? THB and DB were first attracted to her work as art; being in her studio allows us to gain appreciation for her clothing as apparel as well.

Maybe 6 ft by 6 ft; THB liked this art work a lot, it made the whole day on its own, around $17K

DB and Oma discussing the purchase

The explanation for how Oma gets the different tints/tones on the fabric without using noxious chemicals

What makes a great art day?

Finding, seeing or buying one piece that you really love. Just like most of our stops today, OMA Space was nestled in a hard-to-find space right in the shadow of the old palace. Thus Ria and our driver shortcut the frustration we might have faced if left on our own. So there is definitely some value added by hiring an art guide and driver.

Sorry, THB did not get a pic of DB wearing her one-of-a-kind piece...you'll have to tune in to a later post. Let's just say: THB thought it worked really well as art and apparel.

Very nearby we visit the PKM gallery, and they are having a fascinating show of Bek Hyunjin’s work (he’s also an actor, singer, composer, performance artist, poet, and film director). The work is creatively displayed, and some of the pieces have a pull.

Part of an installation

The twins placed an order for one (or was it two)  of this essential work tool

It reminded THB of something? Hmmmm...

Diptych turns the corner

The last gallery visit is a no-go: the part of the gallery we’re interested in (edgy contemporary) is closed for installation of the next show.

We then fight the traffic created by a protest (which Ria cannot explain well except to say it has something to do with the recently imprisoned president of Korea on corruption charges and DJT…maybe nobody could explain it well). To get to our last stop, the Shinsegae department store, we have to fight through another traffic jam caused by cars backed up for several blocks trying to get into the store’s parking lot.

rice ball

Korean cobb salad

We trawl the aisles of the basement food court, ending up with two Japanese-style rice cakes ($3.5). Stop at the Westin Chosun deli to order a chicken cobb salad, a caprese  sandwich, and a huge dry chocolate cookie ($40), and THB brings wine down from the “Executive” floor and we dine en suite. Won oddity: THB pays in cash and the total ends in 700, so as change we get 3 100 won coins. Dimes!! Supposedly there is a 500 won bill, we haven't seen one.

DB passes out early, THB (who didn’t drink) stays up blogging and passes out not quite so early, still early.

Pictorial Pop Quiz answer:

A buzzer to call for service help: the wait staff waits outside the dining room