Gwangju Museum of Art

For those of you who know me, you know that I am an art lover. I don't know much about art, but I believe you don't have to know much about it to appreciate it. 

Today I went to the Gwangju Museum of Art. The Gwangju International Center (GIC) was putting on a concert that included both foreign and domestic artists. There were singers, guitarists, a pianist, a flautist, and at one point, a band with a percussionist and an electric guitarist that accompanied the pianist and flautist.

I met my friend, Hwaseon, but as she was working with the GIC, it was really just me watching the performances. They were all very good, and I was really impressed. I left my camera at home, but I snapped this photo with my phone:

This was the last group of performers. From left to right: the pianist (a Western man who spoke very good Korean), the electric guitarist, the flautist, the percussionist (I would hardly call him a 'drummer' - to me that is reserved for Western grunge band percussionists, usually high on something and with horrible hair), and the acoustic guitarist, all of whom were Korean.

I wanted to see the rest of the museum, but it was W8,000 to get entry past the lobby of the museum where the concert was, and the only cash I had was going to get me home in a taxi. I will go back on another day when the museum is quiet and I can enjoy the art to its fullest. (The website shows the admission price as W500, which is only about $0.50, but the admission desk of the museum itself showed prices to be W8,000. Someone should really look into that.)

After the concert, I walked around Jungoe Park, which is the beautiful park that links the Gwangju Museum of Art with the Gwangju Folk Museum and the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall. I should mention that the Biennale is an art exhibition hall that has an art exhibition only every two years. The next will be in 2012. It spends the entire time in between exhibitions preparing for the next, and it is a very famous art hall in South Korea. I hope I am here during the next exhibition.

These photos that I borrowed from the Gwangju Museum of Art website do the museum and grounds much more justice than I did with my camera phone.

Gwangju Museum of Art

1. Biennale Hall 2. Folk Museum 3. Rainbow Bridge 4. Museum of Art 5. Children's Gallery
6. Yongbongje 7. Outdoor Stage 8. Pavilion 9. Cheonin Tower 10. Amusement park

Next time I promise not to leave home without my camera.

Cool but empty building in Jungoe Park

Watermill exhibition in Jungoe Park

Gwangju Folk Museum

Pretty Trees in Jungoe Park

Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall

Jungoe Park

Gwangju Museum of Art

Jungoe Park

Gwangju Museum of Art

Jungoe Park

View of Buk-gu (Buk: North, Gu: District), Gwangju
Over some sort of wildlife preserve bordered by construction of another museum

I snapped this one of myself without realizing that the brightness setting was still up really high.
I tried to tune it down in Photoshop, but it's still pretty bright.
I like it, though. I was pretty content in Jungoe Park.