Now it's time for our Arts & Culture segment with Lee Tae Ho and today Tae Ho is here to
tell us about his experience with... the art player?
Good afternoon, Tae Ho.
Good afternoon, Conn-young.
Now, you say art player ... what exactly do you mean by that?
Is it somebody who plays art or plays within the framework of art?
You've piqued my interest.
Well, you're correct and... correct again, Conn-young.
I recently had the chance to meet a wonderful artist who plays with art and views art as
play.
And the result?
Well, allow me to go ahead and introduce everybody to "The Art Player."
This is the happy world of "The Art Player," a world filled with paintings, sculpture,
furniture and character design.
But who or what is all this about?
Who is the "Art Player?"
Meet Javier Mariscal, an artist hailing from Valencia, Spain, whose works span all imaginable
shapes, colors and forms of art.
[ 30 ][ ] "Emotions with the new things, a big eyes,
curiosity and also the capacity to imagine.
Imagine, like a, WOW We are in a blue planet.
WOW Blue, everything is blue And now we are in a red, everything is RED You know.
So we play, we play and play.
Come here and you will see how you play with art "
Mariscal suffers from dyslexia, which can impair the learning of reading, writing or
numbers.
For Mariscal, this meant problems with memory that prompted him to create pictures to help
him remember words.
For example, he isn't able to remember his wife's name, so he made a logo for the letters
that helps him recall it.
He said he had a natural ability to see and create pictures, to be able to express himself
and his emotions through art.
We, here in Seoul, are now able to experience his colorful and imaginative works at an exhibition
at the Seoul Arts Center through mid-March.
"In front of me are the sketches of Javier Mariscal, the first step to all of his artworks
and also the entrance to the wonderful world of 'The Art Player.'"
The exhibition is divided into three main sections, and first up is the "Sketches Room."
It's filled with the most basic of all the works by Mariscal.
At the opening ceremony of the exhibition on Friday, the artist took a moment to enlighten
the audience with how his generation did their work by comparing the tools of his trade from
early in his career to what's available to him now.
[ 30 ][09:26-10:06] "When I was born, no photocopies ... and after
many years a new machine come in -- photocopy -- WOW And when I was children [tak tak tak
tak tak tak tak tak], no electric machine.
Very, very [tak tak tak tak tak tak tak tak] mistake.
Ooohhh my god.
After electric machine.
And one day, computer WOW Computer, fantastic
The second part of the exhibition is the "Landscape Collage" filled with, no big surprise here,
collages But these collages are not in the form that
audiences may be accustomed to.
These take the form of furniture and interior design, based on the artist's belief that
collages are the most essential and most natural of art techniques.
The works are also presented in miniature houses and landscapes that look as if they
were taken straight out of the imagination of a child.
The third and final room of the exhibition is titled the "Colors Parade" and it features
many of the artist's colorful collaborations with companies such as the creators of Hello
Kitty, Sanrio and fashion powerhouse H&M.
In this final section, the audience is introduced to Cobi, the controversial mascot of the 1992
Barcelona Olympics.
Although there was a great deal of turmoil and outrage over the character's cartoonish
appearance, the mascot went on to become the most recognized and profitable of all Olympic
mascots.
The viewer is also treated to a "making of" video of Mariscal's animated feature film
"Chico & Rita," which was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 84th annual Academy
Awards.
All-in-all, the exhibition features over twelve-hundred works of art.
Before the opening ceremony came to a close, Senor Mariscal couldn't help but put some
finishing touches on his works.
Through each and every colorful work of art, you see the happy, optimistic artist that
has become "The Art Player."
Javier Mariscal's works are on display at the Seoul Arts Center until March 16th of
next year.
An amazing story, and it looks like quite an entertaining exhibition.
Quite the amazing story, but the artist himself, Javier Mariscal, is even more amazing.
As I was walking through the exhibit by myself and experiencing the artworks, I realized
that all the sketches, paintings and even the furniture were a reflection of the artist
himself.
Well, it seems that you were quite inspired by this whole show.
I was, and also of note is the layout of the exhibition, and a nod to the curator, because
this isn't a conventional exhibition with artworks lined up to be seen, but it's laid
out almost like a story, a process from chapter one to the finished product at the end.
Well, this certainly looks like it could be an entertaining exhibition for viewers of
any age.
Thank you very much for that preview, Tae Ho, and we'll see you again tomorrow.
Alright.
Have a wonderful afternoon