Art shows this week

Filled with numerous sewing needle factories and textile manufacturers that supply the neighboring Dongdaemun Market, Changsin-dong has been largely a working-class neighborhood since the 1960’s. It is in this historic district where artist Nam June Paik spent part of his early childhood, and where his memorial now stands. Located in a quiet and unassuming part of a narrow alley, the memorial is in the shape of a hanok, the traditional Korean house, making it visibly different from the rest of the neighborhood. One step inside the main entrance, you get an immediate glimpse of Paik’s artistic style, at the door, which is created from putting nine televisions side by side. The televisions depict scenes from history to capture the environment in which Paik grew up. Born in Seoul in 1932, Paik lived in Hong Kong, Japan, Germany and the U.S. throughout his lifetime, before returning to Seoul in 1984. His diverse life experiences are manifest in his artwork. The inside of the house is a simple L-shape with a small courtyard, allowing visitors a short but thorough look into the life of Paik as an artist. The memorial features a short history of Paik’ career with commentary from friends and influences, as well as his signature television art projects, such as Good Morning America and collaboration with soprano Sumi Jo. At the end, you can enter a room modeled after Paik’s apartment in Soho, New York, where you can watch the interactive biography, the Paper Theater. Nam June Paik...

If writers reveal a part of themselves in their characters, perhaps that’s what photographers do when they take photos of others. Twenty-four years ago, the then-graduate student Koo Sung-soo started to photograph Seoulites. Years later it seems, he did more than that: He managed to unravel a part of himself and maybe, capture the ever-weary nature of humanity.

Most of us can only visit these museums on the weekends, and that means waiting in line to get a chance to view some art. This December, however, it might be worth the wait. Exhibitions include mega fashion photographer David LaChapelle, creator of the Art Nouveau movement Alphonse Mucha and even a master of Korean modern art Yoo Youngkuk are just some of the maestro. They will be on till February or March of next year, so make sure to squeeze some worthwhile art exhibitions into your busy schedules.

After seeing the works in person, my perspective on your works have changed. The figures are a lot smaller in person—how on earth did you get clothes this small? On the “Still Life (Pieta)” (2007) is an altered jack we found, but everything on the sculpture is made. You can’t just get a dress off the rack, and it would take years to look around for clothes this tiny, with the right kind of color and fabric.    And who is this “we” that you speak of? My mother. She’s a dress maker, and the only person that I have ever met that is as fastidious and as particular as I am. So for “Woman and Child” (2010), I gave her my design, the fabric, and a foam body that she could put the pins into. Usually, a version is made to be tested on the mock-up, because these are all hard bodies that we can’t manipulate to fit clothing onto, as the sculptures are oddly positioned. But my mother is an expert. She’s the best.   Before you “became” an artist, you were a commercial sculptor in the film industry. How and when did the transition come about?   I started out as an illustrator when I was quite young, but went into advertising and making models for TV ads. The transition into film came naturally. The film industry was great fun, but there was always someone else who molded and painted the form that I made. It wasn’t artistically satisfying, so I kept making my own artwork, and showed them when given the opportunity.   I saw a clip where you were inserting the hair strands into the silicon,...