For the Love of Summer

This was drawn during DEVO (!!) concert

More silly sketchbook stuff. My apologies for the short writing. Summer skies are beautiful and I don't want to sit in front of the computer. For my next post, I promise zombie stories.

Man, I LOVE summer. I will be very sad when summer dies. And the summer dies fast.

Here is how one of my sketchbooks look like. I bought it in Germany. I'm so much in love with this sketchbook, but alas, I only have six pages left. The papers are little pulpy (it melts and catches onto felt pens if I squeeze too much ink), but I still love it. Look at the beautiful binding! It had a fun empty thick cardboard as a cover, which I get to draw on.

Glow in the Dark

See the white-coloured bunny and a cloud? See the white eyes of space slugs? These white areas are GLOW IN THE DARK paints! Yes, they glow-in-the dark, ladies and gentlemen. Glow-in-the-dark paints... what kind of witchery are they?! I faintly remember in physic's class how they have something to do with radioactive half-life... Whatever it is, it doesn't seem so healthy. While I was washing the brushes in my kitchen sink, some of the diluted glow-in-the-dark paints got into my food dishes. I hope to get glow-in-the-dark eyes soon.

I hereby present you with one of my favourite bands, Teddybears' song, Glow in the Dark. It'll keep you crooked in this lonely summer night.

Acquainted with the Night

I have a terrible memory. And it seem to get worse and worse, losing all my marbles. "Losing marbles" is such a cute phrase. I always picture a fuzzy cat, who doesn't know what to do with her glass marbles rolling and scattering on the wooden floor.

Many people smiled at me and talked to me the past few weeks, people who are total strangers to me. I know I've met them, because of their behavours towards me, but I have no idea. I just smile and nod in conversations, try to piece together information, try to figure out who they are. I don't mean to be rude... if I don't smile back, it's because of my bad memory. Names, numbers, dates, faces... they all fade away rapidly. Memories are meant to fade and I'm grateful for that. But the memories I want to get rid of, they don't disappear (like, for instance, saying really dumb things to a love interest... out of nervousness. Or my entire highschool memory).

A story of my bad memory:
I was going to my friend's place. His place is only 2 minutes away from mine. I memorized his buzzer number and the apartment number. I went to his apartment and called him through intercom. At that point, I forgot his apartment number already. I asked his unit number (this is even more ridiculous because I've been to his place many times before). He told me the number and I took an elevator up. During the short ride up, I forgot his apartment number again. I don't have a cellphone, and even if I did, I'd be too embarrassed to ask again. So I knocked on EVERY APARTMENT on his floor to find his.

I used to have an unusually good memory. Or did I? I forgot.
I didn't need bookmarks because I memorized page numbers (now I lose my bookmarks). I used to remember most of my friends' phone numbers (now I barely know my phone number). I'd vividly remember how I met each person, surroundings, conversations, etc. Now, everything slips through between my fingers like sand.

This ain't no way to live.

My dear friend and an amazing illustrator Selena told me few days ago, it is because of the messed-up sleep schedule and lack of sleep. It is hard to keep up a regular sleep schedule for me. Deadline comes, and I'm bound to rush. At 4 am., I'm not happy with what I am doing, and start re-working. I often stay up all night and think I'll catch up with sleep later. It never happens. I'm going to reset my sleep schedule as soon as my dumb-ass Master's is over. It is really hard for me to go to bed early because ever since I was a kid, I've always loved the night. Night is when the magic happens. I get most inspired at night, thoughts are amplified. Be acquainted with the night. I hate the fact that human beings need sleep. Try Nancy Kress' novel, Beggar's in Spain. It's about a new genetically-modified humans who don't need sleep. They become super-human and immortals. I wish I didn't have to sleep. I pity the hours I lose sleeping. But I'm only a human. I do need over 6 hours of sleep a day.  One of my friend is exercising, losing weight, etc. just so that he can paint till he is in his 80s. If we want to have a long career, we better take care of ourselves. It's 4AM again. I better stop babbling nonsense and hit the hay.

Just to disturb your sleep (and for me to have a night company)... Here is me as a Ringu (Japanese horror movie about a ghost) ghost to haunt your bedside:

Photo by my lovely cousin, Pam

Okay, sorry for the scary movie reference. Just looking up the link for Ringu movie gave me the chills. Koreans often say that scary things would make people forget about the summer heat. So they tell ghost stories during summer (and watch scary movies). I think the chill we get from the scary stuff is different from the actual temperature. But anyways... in my poor defense... you won't feel the summer heat tomorrow under the hot sun.

Sketches from Far Far Away Part II (a.k.a Sketchbook la pathetique)

Dear Friends...
I miss you and I love you.
Only that I'm away (and not even that long), far far away, I truly realized how much I love you all. Two more days to Toronto.

I owly do miss you.

This guy's face was inspired by the windows in Amsterdam.

There is no London Fog in Europe. When I get back, I plan on drinking many gallons of London Fog. I guess it's "London" in Ontario.

My life doesn't mean anything without you and London Fog. To me, the colour of London Fog is purple.

Missing Berlin and Bruge (Caution: PATHETIC posting ahead)

Pictoplasma was a lot of fun. And the city of Berlin was everything I expected it to be and more. I am still in Europe, in Amsterdam. Got here today. It is raining outside and I'm shivering in a hostel basement, unable to sleep. This city is not made for a solo traveler, lemme assure you. What was I thinking when I booked this 5 months ago? Definitely not thinking straight.

Anyways... more postings once I get home, but here is my mental state right now (I spent the cold rainy evening here, drawing):

How I Feel These Days

See the sad crying ghosts? That's how I feel these days...

Memories of Enemies Opens Tomorrow

A sneak peak! This piece is giant at 30"X40". Okay, all my pieces are giant for this show.

I am having a show with some of my talented and awesome friends: Vicki, Britt, Roben, Ilichna, Alej, Selena and Franzisca. I am so very excited about the show. I also love the venue, it is a huge old fashioned beer factory made out of bricks! That building makes me think of Dickens novel. The opening is tomorrow, please come by if you are free.  Oh I have 3 new giant pieces for this show. Here is the event info:

Opening Night is Wednesday October 6, 2010 

from 7-11pm

Steam Whistle Brewery, The Roundhouse, 255 Bremner Blvd., Toronto. 

Event Page

Another sneak preview (I will post the full image after the opening tomorrow. This piece is also giant at 43"X60")

And here is our poster. You might have seen these around town. Roben painted this amazing munkey. :)

It had been an absolute chaos past month; painting everyday and dealing with school bureaucracy. And again, not sleeping for 3 days... On top of this show deadlines, I had to prepare for a presentation and plan a workshop. At the end of the day yesterday, I started to hallucinate. I actually saw a guy walking through a wall!! So amazing. I recommend sleep deprivation to anybody, any loving family. The talk I gave at OCADU was pretty bad, I kept forgetting what to say, so I stopped in mid-sentences a lot. I taught 8 hour intense AfterEffects workshop on Sunday. Thankfully, despite of the hectic course schedule, it went very well.

Anyways, I had a good rest today, and not quite ready for more crazy schedule, but I got to do what I got to do. Say hello to me at the show! If you cannot make it to the opening, the show is on until October 31st. I'm so excited...

Can You Stay Pure.

 I really shouldn't be doing a blog post (in the middle of the horrors of grad school. I should be writing papers). But it has been long enough since these works had been in display, so I shouldn't wait any longer either. These works are huge. Definitely taller than I. Maybe you've seen them around town somewhere. I don't know where they are installed. If you ever walked by one, please do tell me. Here is the complete map of the project.

Sean Martindale, an idealistic colleague of my program stopped me on my way to a farmer's market on my pimpin' bike. He briefly told me about Toronto Street Advertising Takeover (TOSAT). "Can you have them done in two days?" I always wanted to tag along to his brilliant projects, so I said yes. He told me the dimensions and I didn't think much of it. Once I got to my studio, I realized... OH. 67.5" by 47" is taller than my height. I already lost a day exchanging appropriate info via email. I had one night to draw them. So there I was, alone in the school studio, desks put together to make room with a lot of Korean soap operas playing at the background. Not sleeping for art isn't anything new. I haven't drawn in this big scale since Sheridan College so it was therapeutic. I even got to see a couple being topless on their condo balcony. Win-win situation.

My art supplies look like garbage. And yes, some were actually garbage.

Being a cheap (I was educated at school to do this in Korea, actually) person that I am, I have a pencil extender to get the most out of that small stub of a pencil.

So what were these drawings for? Bunch of frustrated street artists decided to take over the advertising and substitute with art. Frustrated by our cityscape dominated by advertisement. Fight against capitalism? That sort of thing. Sean Martindale is one of a few people in my program I truly respect. He's ethics, theory and practice are consistent and he makes stunning art that makes you stop. I was his fan before I even met him when I noticed his poster plants. I was waiting for a light to change on Queen and Spadina on a gray day and noticed his poster plant. I was so jaded from illegal advertising (I didn't even know they were illegal until I heard Sean's talk) that covers the city like so many other Toronto people. Seeing the illegal advertising cut up to harbour a fragile green life-form was beautiful and moving. And made me think of... yeah, the nature's triumph even after we are long gone.

Poster plants weren't his only work. All of his works are almost equal in emotional impact. Google his name and you'll find out about his other amazing projects. So to be honest, I just wanted to participate in whatever he does. I cannot honestly say that I was purely angry at advertisements to work on TOSAT project. I know there is something inherently wrong with Capitalism (I suppose it's felt by everyone except rich people. For one thing, why is it so expensive to put a roof over our heads?). But I cannot clearly point how to make a better world where everything works okay. I always hide behind the excuse that "people who are a lot smarter than me tried to figure out for a very long time". Flawed human beings as we are, I have no idea how we can fix everything. I'm in a fatigue. A lot of people before my generation tried to change things and failed. We saw Communism come and fail. We saw many pseudo political trends come and fail (hippies and punks?) which led us to be cynical towards any attempts. Also as a participant of Capitalism system, I am often hesitant to bite the hands that feed me (or hands that might feed me in the future. I never got any ad jobs yet).

Sean has a designer background, and his fearless criticism on his potential clients are so admirable. In Hideo Okuda's novel Southbound, his character says,
"In this world, there are things that change slowly by fighting back till the end. Things like slavery and democracy. Equality wasn't just rewarded for free by some nice powerful/rich people. People had to fight every step to achieve it. If nobody fights the society doesn't change. I'm one of those people (245)"
Art doesn't have much power to change society but I'm happy that there are people like Sean who stands up for us (rights to not to become some corporations' marketing ploy everyday) , no matter how small it seems.

My intentions for participating with TOSAT weren't pure. More than criticizing advertisements, I wanted to flatter my ego by making people see my art work. Hey, I got a tiny bit of press too on Torontoist (except that they don't know who did it).

Anyways, I rambled nonsensically long enough. I'm going to go learn how to be a morally better and just person (at least try) watching Michael Sandel's lectures. Maybe after these lectures, I'll be able to participate other art projects like TOSAT with clear mind.

Even When Strawberries are Falling From the Sky, We are Sad

"Technology is ethos, not devices" - Jeanne Randolph
In the present day, technology is not the iPhones, iPads, eBook readers nor computers. Technology as ethos is the god everybody firmly believes in (well aside from money I suppose). We are always pushed to become more efficient and productive. What should be applied to the machines are being applied to human beings. We are told, "Do time management, make plans, be efficient, and for god sakes, do not show any emotion! It's nothing personal that I have to fire you." We live in this repetitive, boxed-in daily lives and come home to a boxed apartment. Is this just current phenomena, or has it been like this ever since we discovered fire. I have no idea. One thing for sure is that most people are unhappy with their daily boxed lives. We cannot be efficient and on schedule all the time. Shit happens. We are not machines after all.

Someone very close to me is chronically depressed. Not many people understand her as she seems to have everything. A beautiful place to live, a good job with benefits, lots of fun travels and lots of money. But as my friend once told me, material things are not a path to happiness, I suppose. I thought of printing her a t-shirt that says "Severely Depressed" with a quirky smiley. But I don't think she'll find that very funny. So here it is, an art work instead for her and for all of us who has to run the rat race. We are sad in our boxed lives. And even when good things are happening; even when strawberries are falling from the sky, we are sad.

This art is for the Strawberry Festival at Port Hope with my collective Not an Octagon. It's far (near Peterborough) but guaranteed good time with tonnes of strawberries. Let's defy productivity and eat some strawberries under the hot summer moon.
This Saturday June 26th at 6pm
Facebook Invitation

Shameless Cover

I'm on the cover of Shameless Magazine! I thank the wonderful art director, Sheila for all the kindness. It was an absolute delight to work with her. Shameless is a magazine aimed for teen girls. Amidst of countless fashion magazines that focuses on superficial qualities, Shameless reminds us that there are more to life than just appearance. I love working for this magazine. I wish I had this magazine growing up. All I had were fashion magazines like Seventeen and YM. This issue's theme was on sexual health education in Canada. It is a great issue. Available at bookstores near you. Please do check it out!
My Contributor page!

I liked this spread because of donuts. It is an one-eyed snaked going through a donut hole. I tried to make a sexual innuendo without being too overt. It was very challenging.

TCAF photos! Thank you everyone for visiting my table at TCAF. I know my table was a bit harder to find. But I gave away a lot of free stuff. I hope it was worth it. :D Let me know what you thought of my new comic. Yes, I am totally self conscious about it. It is the worst writing ever, but better looking than most of my comics. I have some new (and hopefully better) ideas on the go. I'll have them published for FanEx this August.

I couldn't go to any of the parties during the festival. It was heart-breaking. I was planning to go. However, I was very tired by the end of the day. I also had to print sold-out comics at home. On the last day of the festival, I had to run to friends' wedding. If they let me in again next year, I'm going to attend all the parties (picture me as a Scarlett in Gone with the Wind while she clinches her fists and go "I promise I'll never go hungry again"). It's too bad I cannot drink. Socializing and friendship seem to naturally come with drinking. *sob*

Lastly, me with Banksy in Toronto! It was very exciting to see his work in my town. This one is a little North of Spadina and QueenW.