Loneliness Is I & II

Awesome photographer in my class, Josh Morden filmed this for me. Thank you Josh.

Here is my interactive art project!

I wanted to create a way to escape from reality and into the cartoon world. However, my cartoon world is an ambivalent place. Black rain clouds of rain follows you around.

It is programmed with Processing with a lot of time, pain and tears. I am not sure if I am ever going to venture into the digital interactive world. The installation is up at the Graduate Gallery on 205 Richmond Street West.

Here is the info (but you don't have to come. That's why I embedded videos here):

Pretty Ugly

Graduate Student Gallery

Thursday April 22, 2010 to Saturday May 8, 2010

Gallery Hours 12-6pm

Opening Reception: Friday April 30th, 2010 6pm to 9pm

I'd say it is a pretty bad exhibition. I'm glad we named it 'Pretty Ugly'. Look at the write up for our show:

"First Year Interdisciplinary Master's in Art, Media and Design present... Pretty Ugly

Pretty Ugly is the critique of aesthetic judgment; the interconnectedness of Art, Media, and Design; the rain on your parade; the definition, limitation, and possibility across disciplines; the abject, the beautiful, the tactile, the patterned, the provocative, the theoretical, the suggestion of something else. Pretty Ugly features new work by MFA, MDes, and MA candidates in the Interdisciplinary Master's of Art, Media, and Design program Teresa Ascencao, Anya Chudnovtseva, Joseph Clement, Barr Gilmore, Hyein Lee , Geneviève Maltais, Josh Morden, Alexei Vella, and Lisa Visser."

I have no idea who wrote this, but I am ashamed of it. I apologize to everyone. Sometimes I think of my Masters program and wonder... Other Master students make the world a better place, save lives by curing cancer and AIDS; raise our standard of life with a new technology; etc. But what do we do? We waste oxygen and space.

Anyways... changing topic... I've been volunteering at TVA (Toronto Vegetarian Association) Resource Centre. They are located at Baldwin and McCaul. We do podcasts, and if you want to hear about me making awkward comments about vegan food, here it is!

This week's TVA Podcast

I Love You In the Most Platonic Way Possible

That is a lie.

I am totally defeated by MAC. I was so happy until this morning. Everything was working so well. Then today... Well, let me start this rant from the beginning. There is this programming called 'Processing'. It's a java based language that's easier for artists to work with. It is mostly used for interactive art. Here is a WICKED TED talk by Golan Levin on Interactive Art. He uses Processing. I attended his workshop (but I was already his fan).

So I've been working on this interactive art piece for a while. I've completed it last night. It works perfectly fine on my new PC. What a happy day. Our year-end show is coming up this Thursday. So I thought, 'I'll spend an hour setting things up tomorrow morning'.

WRONG!

After 9 hours at the Grad Gallery today, fiddling with iMAC (and never sat down due to the installation set up), I gave up. AV guy and I even installed Windows. Good god. I'm going to go at it again tomorrow morning. Wish me luck, strangers (especially you, anonymous Viagra salesman who spams my blog comments). Hopefully, I get to show you what I've done.

So far, MAC 9: Hyein 0. But it ain't over yet.

Before I close this post, one last thing; platonic. (Man, that's got to be a wrong use of semicolon. But I'm too tired to look it up) I've never heard that word until few years ago. I always thought it was spelled 'plutonic'. The geologist in me was thinking, 'as in hot rock...?' I just learned that it's spelled different.

Cartoon City at Harbourfront Centre

Mystery Mister Lee

Mixed Media on Wood

18X24"

I was invited to portray my neighbourhood for the Cartoon City exhibition at Harbourfront Centre York Quay Gallery. I went around my neighbourhood taking photos. It is Dundas and Spadina China town area.

Other talented Toronto cartoonists were invited for this show. Among them is Michael Cho! I've been his fan for a long time. It is an honour to be in a show with him. There is an opening for the show, if you'd like to attend. I will be there:

Harbourfront Centre

Friday, April 9th

6-10pm

Here is an artist statement I wrote for the show:

I immigrated to Canada 15 years ago. Before and since, I've been to many beautiful cities around the world. In the end, there isn't anywhere I would rather be than Toronto. With the infinite loneliness of its sky scrapers, with the gritty colours of Chinatown, the dry memories of the summer and the beige slush of the winter; there is no place like here.

Yes, it's basically saying how much I love Toronto. It is not cool to like the place you are living in. Everyone always wishes to be somewhere else. I know. Stores and restaurants close early, very tiny subway lines, it's grayiness (this is what people told me. I don't think Toronto is gray), apathetic people...etc. But I really love it here. There are many reasons: you can walk everywhere, so many vegetarian restaurants, vegan cupcakes, hot hot summer, art supply stores... But most of all this is my home. Something about 'home' that makes you long for no matter where you are.

Lastly, I end this post with pictures of freeze dried strawberries! Freeze dried fruits are some of my favourite things! They are so crunchy, airy and oh-so tasty! I mean, dude, it's astronaut food! ASTRONAUT!!! (no comment on whether or not astronauts actually eat freeze dried food or not) I love it so much I wanted to make them. (they are very expensive) But after learning about the steps and equipments required to do so, I gave up. You need to create a vacuum environment to make freeze dried foods. *sigh* If you are wondering how to make them, check this show out:

Jimmy's Food Factory - Preserving

I hope somebody makes freeze dried soy icecream soon.