Sunday, January 15, 2012

1,000 Doors

Click to enlarge
Above is a public art installation in Seoul, South Korea call 1,000 Doors by the artist Choi Jeong-Hwa. It is a 10 story building covered with a facade of 1,000 doors. It looks like an eyesore to me. 

Choi Jeong-Hwa specializes in found art. That is, he uses everyday objects and converts them into artistic statements. He describes his inspiration in the quote below:  
In 1989. I couldn’t really draw so I didn’t think I could become a painter, but I really liked walking. So I used to walk between streets and narrow alleys and discover garbage piles and construction sites. I realized that “normal” people built and created things better than artists or professionals. Plus, what they were making was more natural. I decided against becoming an artist and decided instead to be an ordinary person who thinks like an artist.
Well, at least he is honest and he appears to make a living at it. Still, I wonder what the neighbors think of being stuck next to that monstrosity, or even worse -- the poor people inside of it without any windows?

2 comments:

OMMAG said...

I was once inclined to enter the field of architecture. For various reasons I ended up in engineering and had a career in telecom and information systems.
I still dabble in architectural design and use the exercise of creating plans as an outlet for the meagre artistic/creative talents I enjoy.

Frankly .... when I see someone construct installations like this from collections of junk ... my first reaction is some interest. The second reaction is to wonder who will have to clean the mess up ... and who pays for it.

In Winnipeg we had a guy who cobbled together some I-beam, pipe and sheet steel then painted it bright prmary colours. The federal government payed for it (I believe) and it ended up downtown in front of a government building. The city finally came to its senses and asked the eysore to be removed... which it was ... to a municipal yard where it sat rusting.

One day ... the issue of placing a new work on the same site came up and people started asking what happened to the old installation. After the artist noticed that he was getting some attention he tried to sue the city/feds over the removal of his "art" ... I believe they told him he could go to the storage yard and remove it. But he was not going to be given a place to display it.

ambisinistral said...

The expression "you get what you pay for" rarely applies to public art selected by committee.