#inezsuen

Select works from the Detroit Institute of Art

Souvenir II by Kerry James Marshall as a Guest of Honor, on loan from the Addison Gallery of American Art in Boston

Vincent van Gogh Portrait of Postman Roulin, 1888 oil on canvas

Hernan Bas, who is now based out of Detroit.

Pablo Picasso Girl Reading, 1938 oil on canvas

Georges Seurat French, 1859-1891 Étude pour "La Grande Jatte" (Study for "La Grande Jatte"), 1884-1885

Frans Snyders, Still Life with Fruit, Vegetables, and Dad Game, 1635-37, Oil on Canvas

Dick van Baburen, The Concert, about 1623, Oil on canvas

The Great Hall at the Detroit Institute of Art is a Beaux-Arts, Italian Renaissance styled building by  Philadelphia architect Paul Philippe Cret.

Joan Mitchell Before, Again II, 1985 oil on canvas

On my way to board a cruise to Alaska, I stopped in at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the 5th largest Art Gallery in Canada and the largest on the west side. 

The Vancouver Art Gallery, 41,400 square feet (3,850 m2) of exhibition space and more than 11,000 works in its collection.

This old courthouse neoclassical building was designed by Francis Rattenbury after winning a design competition in 1905.

Displacement, the main exhibition on view is a curated collection of objects from their permanent collection that consists of “art that evokes displacement as a tool to elicit viewer reactions ranging from empathy and understanding, to the unexpected and disruptive”

Joseph Wilton, General Wolfe, c 1759, plaster

Patrick Traer, baby blue balls, 2002, plywood, cotton, cardboard foam batting vinyl, zippers, approximately 2000 covered buttons, stainless steel buckle and chain.

Aganetha Dyck, Eaton Triplets, 1976-81, wool, textile

There was also a solo show of Victoria based artist, Mowry Baden.  “Baden is known for producing intricate, sometimes humorous sculptural works and installations that borrow from the fields of perceptual psychology, science and architecture, and often solicit the audience’s participation.”

Mowry Baden, “Cheap Sleeps Columbine,” 1994 mattress, boxspring, pillow, wood, steel, mirror

There was also a large photography exhibition, Moving Still: Performative Photography in India.

The photographer who caught my attention was Gauri Gill and his series, Acts of Appearance (2015- ).  He brings attention to an indigenous community living in the Jawhar district in Maharashtra, India known for their papier-mâché of festival deities.  Gill commissioned the villagers to make papier-mâché masks of common people and pets who are important to them and have them posing doing normal everyday activities.

Gauri Gill. Untitled, from "Acts of Appearance" (2015-ongoing)

This past Art Basel Hong Kong, while having dimsum with friends, Joanne Lim, Founder and Director of J&S International Art Project, shows me this youtube video clip of a guy making art by rolling around a stone.  This immediately caught my attention, and lucky me! I happen to be flying to Seoul the following week.   

So Joanne picked me up at the hotel and we drove about an hour outside of the city to the Korean countryside where we pulled off onto a gravel road and up to this brown nondescript building.  Here, we were greeted by a 5ft tall, older Korean gentleman with wispy white hair and speaks at just slightly above a whisper.  

Choi Sangchul was a professor to university students of western oil paintings for many years.  Even while he taught full time, he was very studious about creating art and through regimented practice, developed his own artist voice.  And since retirement from teaching, he is now dedicated to his paintings.  He has set hours where he works and keeps tedious records of his progress.  

We enter into his spotless studio where there were several stacks of paintings.  Mr Choi with the help of Joanne’s translations starts telling me about his practice.  I think we started with his more traditional Korean abstract paintings from the 80′s.  At a mighty 5 ft, this man lifts paintings two times his size as if they were paper...actually, i thought it was paper.  Boy was I wrong!  It’s acrylic ink on linen!!  He stretches the canvases himself AND he doesn’t use a paint brush!! 🤔

In Choi’s older works, he uses deliberately planned strokes and more colors.

As Mr. Choi pulls away layers, the paintings become more contemporary and it’s clear that he has become very established in his style.  Mr. Choi has created for himself a very disciplined process to create art in order to eliminate the human ego from the paining process as much as possible.  He creates a type of stroke with an object (stone, stick, wire) in sketch form on paper, and then executes them on canvas.  Creating the marks, he leaves somewhat up to chance, sometimes as simply as flipping a coin, but always in repetitions of 1000.

Sketches of possible future paintings

Choi making marks on a painting with metal wire

It was an honor to meet Mr. Choi and visit his studio.  What’s next?  We hope to bring Mr. Choi’s work to the United States and work with US based galleries and insitutions, so more people can see more of his works.  :)  Want to know more? Please contact us for more information!

Choi and I in his studio in Seoul, Korea

Choi primarily works on the ground in his studio.

Sticks and branches Choi uses for his tools.

Using round stone dipped in acrylic paint to make marks on this painting.

Choi amongst his works in his studio.

A quick morning walk around downtown Detroit is filled with public art and architecture.  

“Waiting” by KAWS  Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans gifted this sculpture to the city of Detroit.  🤔  I wonder what they’re waiting for?  

The Union Trust - Guardian Building was nicknamed the Cathedral of Finance when it opened in 1929.  Wirt Rowland, the building’s architect had full control of the $12 million dollar project. 

The lobby’s ceiling is covered in colorful Rookwood tile.

The banking floor features March Chase Stratton’s Pewabic tiles and Atlantic terra cotta from NY State as well as an interesting blend of imported tiles from Europe.  At the end of the hall is a 5-story mural featuring allegorical references to Michigan industry.  

The Monel metal grill houses a Tiffany clock.

The Spirit of Detroit is a monumental sculpture created by Marshall FredericksIt.  A plaque in front of the sculpture bears the following inscription: "The artist expresses the concept that God, through the spirit of man is manifested in the family, the noblest human relationship."

Transcending, dedicated to the labor movement in Michigan. David Barr, an artist from Livonia, designed the 63 foot steel arcs, while Sergio de Guisti, an Italian artist from Redford, designed the base of the monument.

The famous Dodge Fountain by Isamu Noguchi at Hart Plaza.

“The great fountain, projected to be the most significant of modern times, will rise from the plateau of primal space. It will be an engine for water, plainly associating its spectacle to its source of energy, an engine so deeply a part of Detroit.

‘It will recall and commemorate the dream that has produced the automobile, the airplane and now the rocket, a machine become a poem. The fountain will rise 18 feet high into the air hovering in an incandescent cloud of water [rising at a maximum of 40 feet high] at night.” - Isamu Noguchi

The International Memorial to the Underground Railroad sculpted by Ed Dwight, 2001, Granite and bronze.  Hello Canada 🇨🇦

In April 2019, VSF opened a second location in the Hannam-dong neighborhood of Seoul, South Korea with L.A. staples, Billy Al Bengston and Ed Ruscha. To welcome their international guests to Seoul, they crafted an incredible VIP program featuring a little glimpse into what’s chic in Seoul from curator lead tours of museums (LEEUM, Samsung Museum of Art, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea and Amore Pacific Corporation’s Museum, and more), traditional Korean markets to tasty restaurants.  

A bunch of American tourists in Seoul. :D

Quick stop at Gwangjang Market for snacks

View of the brand new VSF Seoul from across the street

Owner, Esther Kim Varet and Sara Hantman – Senior Director flew in from Los Angeles

Joseph Varet, Wendy Al, Billy Al Bengston and Esther Varet

Sr. Curator, Jan-Uk Lee, nice to see you in 3 cities in 1 week!

Love their coats!  Great turn out at the opening of VSF in Seoul.

Ed Ruscha, Wen Out for Cigret N Never Came Back, 2017, 2 x 19.75 in

Various Small Fires (VSF) is a gallery owned and operated by Esther Kim Varet with locations in Los Angeles, California and Seoul, South Korea. It is in its sixth year of programming.

In 2014, Johnston MarkLee Architects designed the current VSF building with nearly 5,000 sq-ft (465 sq-m) of exhibition space, including a unique sound corridor for year-round audio art programming. VSF is also one of the few commercial venues to have a dedicated outdoor gallery for large-scale sculpture and installation.

Somebody asked me recently, what is blue chip art?

According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, blue chip is “nationally recognized, well-established and financially sound.” 

Now apply that principle to artist, and you have an artist who’s works are “nationally recognized, well-established and financially sound.”  It’s artwork that continuously appreciate in value even after the artist dies (Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat for example). This artist’s artworks are probably collected by serious art collectors and museums.  Us, the common people, probably can’t afford their original works without taking out a second mortgage.  Some artists create limited edition art objects or release prints of their best works with the seal of approval. Collect those! They are best next thing to the real thing.    

Some of our favorite Contemporary (living artist who are still producing artwork) blue chip artists include:

Ai Weiwei

Jeff Koons

Takashi Murakami

KAWS

Yayoi Kusama

Minnesota is a nice place that has wonderful natural landscapes and fantastic museums!  You can experience little annoying bugs flying around you when you are hiking, or you can choose to space out when sitting on the shore of Lake Superior. You actually also have another option -- spending your whole afternoon at the Minneapolis Institute of Art! The museum has many Asian collections that cover ancient to contemporary. Recently they are displaying many Japanese contemporary artworks, as well as a temporary exhibition Power and Beauty in China’s Last Dynasty. I spent my whole afternoon in the museum, and selected these three artworks to share with you guys~

Kowtowing Official, China Tang Dynasty

This piece of art is from the late 7th and early 8th century. Kowtowing is an official action in a court when someone meets the emperor and high officials. Although I’ve known this and have seen it on TV shows multiple times, this was my first time to see a real statue that carved the action! It was actually a serious behavior which showed respect, but I feel like this piece of art in this gesture is so lovely. Maybe it is because the facial expressions on the men looked very cute?

The Hen Who Conceived a Child, 2009, Yoshino Takamasa

Different people with different interpretations!! According to the artist, it is a pregnant hen, and was inspired by a cage of chickens and a pregnant woman during his trip. However, my friend, a creative and imaginary person, thinks it is an official who is wearing a long-sleeved robe, crossing his hands in front of his belly (just like the standing man in the last picture). I totally did not relate it to this image! It was so interesting to exchange our thoughts of the artifact. I always find out how different we are even if we have so many common interests.

Eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara Bodhisttva, 2012, Yuji Honbori

This piece is super special and eye-catching! It is made by cardboard boxes and is depicting one of the gods in Buddhism. Check out the short video I took. The piece looks differently at different angles. Isn’t it super cool? The corrugation of cardboard boxes created a cool view and the artist suggests that this could indicate the Buddhist notions of impermanence and ephemerality. I never thought that the sacred image could be reproduced in this way. This makes the sacred statue more lively and not that inaccessible.

This past weekend, Sombras Tango Cabaret opened at The Edge Theater in Chicago.  This is actually the 2nd time I’ve seen this production and definitely not my first exposure to the productions of Tango 21 Dance Theater, an organization started by Liz Sung and Jorge Niedas using “the language of Argentine tango to tell original, contemporary stories through live theater.”  Sombras Tango Cabaret is their fourth production following El Tango Café, Cambalache: A Holiday Story and Feathers: A Tango Journey.

Liz Sung (Madame Yvonne) and Jorge Niedas (Don Juan): Photo by Linda Kwon

The story follows Fantastic Frank (Trent Oldham) as both narrator and lead character dressed in red sequins, fishnets and fabulous boots (psst Trent, where did you get those boots? 😉). His story unfolds as he leads us onstage and behind the scenes though a theater production with the Tango Brigade. Though his point of view, the audience gets a survey of the history of tango and all its iterations though live performances whether it’s original music, dance or song.  On top of the skilled dancers and a well-rehearsed performance, there is never a dull moment. Fantastic Frank tells of his journey though tango as a way to cope with being outcasted from his family to finding a new tango family and then eventually confronting and reuniting with his past in a full-cast showstopper of “Che tango che”. My only wish was that they had a bigger stage.  The Edge Theater is a serious performance space and has been such a supporter of local theater production, but this is TANGO! It needs a theater with flare and pizzaz and SPACE!

L to R_ Hillary Leben as Helga, Valentina Muñoz as The Nymph, Trent Oldham as Fantastik Frank, Dawn Krajcik as Coco, Winita Lau as Miss Minnie: Photo by Linda Kwon

Now, that’s just my humble opinion.  I think it’s a fantastic show and everybody should run out a buy a ticket (Nov 15-17).  I’m seeing it again on Sunday.  BUT, I am not a theater critic nor am I a tango aficionado, but I am no stranger to Liz Sung, the writer and co-creator of the T21DT  productions.  Liz and I go way back to art school in the cornfields of central Illinois.  

Liz and I at graduation...a long time ago.

We lost touch for a bit when I moved to New York, but when we reconnected back in Chicago, we picked up right where we left off.  Liz was a photo major in college so it was natural that she now has her own video production company. Throughout the years, Liz has been a supportive friend and colleague.  So when she first told me she was doing tango, my overactive imagination took me to her performing in dance competitions like in the 1996 Japanese movie, “Shall We Dance”.  Boy, was I wrong! A couple years ago, I finally attended one of her productions of El Tango Café, I was completely floored that she actually created and wrote not just one, but four whole freakin musicals.  This is MY friend!!!!  Suddenly I was overwhelmed with joy and pride.  GO LIZ!  You rock! 😍 Let tango transform you!  🖖🏽