Year in Review

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Top highlights of 2012: receiving my MA in Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) which involved both a symposium and an art exhibition, starting my teaching job at SAIC, presenting at the (In)Appropriated Bodies conference at Cornell University, starting to write for Sixty Inches From Center, and being invited to present at the International Conference of Asia Scholars in Macau (June 2013).

Below are the top read blog posts from 2012:

1. Master of Arts Visual and Critical Studies Symposium 

2. NYC, April 10, Part I [Sandra Dukic and Boris Glamocanin]

3. Red Gate Reunion Series 2012: Crystal Ruth Bell

4. Landscapes from Pyongyang at Galerie Son in Berlin

5. Just Humans: An interview with Angelica Dass, creator of Humanae  

6. Red Gate Reunion Series 2012: Britt Salt

7. Felix Gonzales-Torres at Samsung Museum in Seoul via ArtDaily

8. Batman, Jaws, and Other Such Characters

9. Red Gate Reunion Series: Jon Hewitt 

10. Sunday Morning Coffee (Quicky)

Thanks for reading! I hope that your 2013 is getting off to a grand start!

Writing for Sixty Inches From Center

I’m now writing for Sixty Inches From Center, an online archive of the arts in Chicago. My first post was published a few weeks ago–click here to read it! 

The Bean and More

Anish Kapoor, Shooting into the corner, 2008-2009

This work was brought to my attention by e-flux, read about it here, it is now on display as part of a a retrospective of Kapoor’s work at Pinchuk Art Center.

Last Sunday marked the day of my graduation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Yes, now you can call me Master. The graduating students of SAIC have the privilege of walking across the stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millenium Park to receive their diplomas.  A smidgen to the west rests the infamous Chicago “Bean.” The “Bean’s” title is Cloud Gate and it was created by Anish Kapoor. This morning as I was wading through the emails I’ve neglected the past few weeks I came across another work by Kapoor and I thought the many visitors we had last weekend would find it interesting to see another work created by the “Bean” artist.

Sunday Morning Coffee (Pink Splash on a Monday Morning)

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Disco in downtown Chicago!

Ex-North Korean artwork shown in the U.S.

Speaking of North Korea, please check out this project! Young Sun Han is an SAIC grad and currently lives in Chicago. Some of his family is from North Korea and a portion of the proceeds from his sales go to Life Fund for North Korean Refugees. (Yes, Zane Davis, I am highly recommending you watch the short video.)

On the Wallstreet Journal Blog, Singapore Considers “No-Censorship Zones”

Art Radar’s 16 most searched Asian artists from July-December 2011. It looks like Ai Weiwei was number one but they also reported a surge in searches for Korean artists (I hope thats not just me doing thesis research!). Lee Yong-baek is number 8 on the list, I am in the midst of writing a chapter on him.

I like my belly button!

I’m giving a lecture about the Body Project this Friday! If you’re in Chicago and will be downtown at 12:15 please come by! 

Sunday Morning Coffee (Superbowl Sunday!)

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Above is an art homage to the Superbowl at the Indianapolis Museum of Art by Robert Indiana. Enjoy your chili!

I have a VCS Noontime Lecture this Friday in MC 112 South Michigan, Room 501. I’ll be discussing Body Project and I’d love to see you there!

Art Radar‘s third installment of What is ahead for contemporary Asian art, 2012 and beyond? Part III.

The earliest copy of Mona Lisa found at the Prado.

More on the  9th Gwangju Biennale. If I were in Korea I would try to get to one of these workshops.

First Family art stroll.

Paul Gauguin right before he died said, “I have wished to establish the right to dare anything…The public owes me nothing, since my achievement in painting is only relatively good, but the painters–who today profit by this liberty–they owe me something.” Modern Art by Sam Hunter, John Jacobus, and Daniel Wheeler page 44.

Sunday Morning Coffee (Beer Tasting)

Robert Mapplethorpe’s Derrick Cross, 1983

Betsy, I though you would enjoy this artist’s work!

Liumang Yan is speaking up for sex workers in China, she is also one of the women in One Tiger Eight Breasts with Ai Weiwei.

More on affordable art!

This article is about scandalous muses.  I would have added Robert Mapplethorpe’s models to the list. If you are interested in Mapplethorpe and his muses you should read two chapters by Kobena Mercer on Mapplethorpe’s work. To summarize briefly, in the first chapter Mercer is quite angry about the objectification of the models in the photographs. A few years later he wrote a second article revisiting his initial reaction and accepting the work.

“What is ahead for contemporary  Asian art, 2012, and beyond?” Part II.

Yesterday I went to a great pannel at SAIC called “Getting on the Map.”  Sharon Louden moderated a conversation with Carron Little, Mark Jeffery, Judd Morrissey, and David Parker.

There is a horse hanging from the ceiling at the Guggenheim in New York!

Between Sheets – Canon Spring 2011

This is the over of between sheets the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Visual and Critical Studies Department journal.  The first year class was in charge of the publication this year.  Intimacy was the overall topic–contributions included a variety of interpretations on intimacy.   My piece came in two parts.  The first was a consideration of language and interpretation.  I wrote it in English and used Google Translate to translate it into Korean.

My other piece was a kind of word game and simultaneously a hacking of language.

Contact me if you’d like a PDF of my work.  Also, here is a clue to the second part on YOUTUBE.

To learn about my classmates, the other between sheets contributors, visit the SAIC VCS website!

Disclaimer: The photo of the cover is from a draft but you get the idea!