Your Bright Future at LACMA

This morning I attended "press day" at LACMA on the cusp of the opening of Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea. The event is at the new BCAM space, but the main structure has been decorated by the plastic art of GR friend Choi Jeong-Hwa.


Many of the artists were on hand to meet and greet the press, and so were the curators. Second to the left in red is Christine Starkman, Curator of Asian Art (MFAH), who introduced herself to me and was really cool.


If you walk in a clockwise direction, the first pieces you'll see are by Do Ho Suh (being interviewed). The RISDI graduate depicts the collision of his Korean background and American education in a dramatic and incredibly detailed manner.


This detail is of his bedroom. The chair is probably about one-high high. The model kits, much smaller. The work is colorful and beyond crisp--as if you're looking into a dream.


I'm a fan of Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, which presents snappy black-and-white dialogues with a jazzy soundtrack that somehow reminds me of Pizzicato 5's space-age jetset distillation but in a digital, not mod, background.


Gimhongsok (being interviewed) juxtaposes gigantic animal suits, video, and the scrawling words of a crazy person in a multi-pronged attack on what is cute and what is real.


Outside, I ran into Choi Jeong-Hwa, who put together a colorful hanging assemblage of plastic goods from the nearby 99 Cents Only store. When I told him that I was going to bring my baby to the installation, he thought it was a great idea.


There's also a DIY plastic sculpture behind the museum, closer to the La Brea Tar Pits. Guests are invited to hang their own recyclable goods on the fences, and I'm totally bringing some when I return. Choi seemed pleased when I told him that the two guys in work clothes were discussing and defining art instead of doing their jobs.


Thanks to Christine at LACMA for hooking me up. If you attend the gala at the museum tonight, buy her a Coke for being awesome.