50% check

I plan to finish my second piece (dragonfruit) in school before the weekend, and I am halfway through my last piece. I hope I can work a little bit on my last piece at home and continue to finish it during the last few classes next week.

Museum Gallery Visit II: Seoul Metro Art Center

Over the summer, my mom and I were taking the subway in Seoul during vacation when we came across a small section within the station where there were a bunch of art pieces hung up on display. When we went inside to take a closer look, I realized that all the paintings were done by primary students from schools all over Seoul. I actually ended up enjoying this museum a lot more than I usually do in more "professional" galleries, and I think this is because looking at artwork done by little kids allowed me to go back to the basics of learning art and how important they are to making meaningful pieces.

The student that painted this work may not yet have learned about exaggerative perspectives the way that SAS students did in high school, but even at a young age, this person already knew that interesting perspectives can result in a more eye-catching painting. It's true that out of all the pieces displayed, this particular student may not have the best artistic skills compared to his/her peers, but his/her work was the one that caught my eye instantly because of the image she chose to paint. By having the hands a whole lot bigger than the person itself, it grabbed people's attention. Exaggerated perspective pieces, which I only learned to really appreciate this school year, can really give that extra uniqueness to an artwork. 

This is also another example of an exaggerated perspective piece that caught my eye, and with this one, I also really admired how much attention and patience the student must have had to really be neat and meticulous with his/her shape and lines. 

The next two paintings that I was drawn to were these ones. Both are really similar in terms of the color theme and painting style, but what I really liked about it was how much the students focused on the shapes of their painting, and particularly the contrast in the first painting. These kinds of paintings I have always admired because, up close, they seem really basic, simple, and quickly done, but from afar, they are one of the most eye-catching ones due to the strength in their shapes and clear lines. It reminded me of how I used to be a hardcore perfectionist when it came to the smallest details, only to realize that sometimes they are unnoticeable in the final picture and that I spent way too much time on them. Of course, details and being attentive about them are both still very important, but sometimes it's nicer to just focus on the big picture. 

With this student, I could tell right away that he/she is a very neat and patient person. Every line and shape was painted to near-perfection, which of course resulted in a painting that was very clear and clean-cut. When I looked at this artwork, I saw a little bit of myself in it because even since I was young, I have always been one to strive for precision. I could tell that this piece took a very long time for the student to do, and I really appreciate how even though he/she is only in primary school, he/she is already taking the time and patience to create meaningful art. 

The last thing I noticed as I strolled past all the artworks on display was that younger kids definitely played a lot more with their imagination and were more adventurous about expressing it than high school kids are. There were a lot of pieces where there could not have been a reference photo for the kids to look at––they just simply drew what they had in their heads, like the paintings above. This really stuck with me because I always liked having reference photos and making art from it by looking at every angle, shape, line, and shadow, but I am sometimes afraid to try being imaginative with what I want to draw. Coming up with a creative idea for a reference photo is still completely different from coming up with an idea that is absolutely new and only in your head, while also creating that art without looking at anything to guide you.