Ghosts in the Studio (스튜디오의 유령)
I don’t particularly get along with people for long periods
of time. I am pretty choosy about the people I spend my time with because most
people tend to annoy me after about an hour. It’s probably the leading reason
I can’t seem to keep a relationship for longer than a year. I’m not sure
whether it’s because other people are boring or the other way around, I have
never spent much time trying to figure it out. I don’t engage much in small
talk or banter, unless it’s a situation which brings me some sort of social
benefit, but I think that’s most people. I think that’s why Hak and I get along
so well, we don’t really have to talk to figure things out.
Hak lands late Friday afternoon and is planning on staying
for 8 days. I pick him up at the airport and he is wearing black boots, jeans,
and a t shirt. “The weather here is much nicer than Seoul” he says as we drop
off his bags at my house. Our first stop is the studio. I have gotten most of
the essential materials, but tell him we will stop by the art store first thing
in the morning tomorrow. Some friends stop by to say hello and we head out to a
swanky little beer bar across the street from Dolores Park. There is a girl
there who I used to see, but it’s nothing that a few drinks can’t fix.
We take a bar brawl down through Valencia to my favorite haunts:
Elbo Room, Skylark, and finally Casanova. Me and Hak break off from the group
and head over to Panchitas for some papusas. I can tell that the travel is
catching up to him so we say goodbye to the group and we head back home for the
night. We wake up on Saturday and go straight to work. The next week goes by
like clockwork. Breakfast, studio, lunch, studio, dinner, studio.
Quarter life Slump (분기 생활 슬럼프) 29x24 Mixed Media on Canvas
I ask Hak if
there is anything special he wants to see, “Maybe the Golden Gate Bridge?”
“No, no. I didn’t see the Golden Gate Bridge while I lived
here. I just want to hang out and paint.”
It was the answer I was hoping for. Although we live in
different countries and speak different languages, our lives have taken very
similar trajectories. We are both single and in our 30s. We have taken blue
collar and menial jobs in order to survive. We don’t seem to be able to hold
down steady relationships. But we are free in a way that most people are not.
We pick up where we last saw each other in Korea. The pace
we work at is set to hectic. We are intending to finish 8 pieces during his
stay, one complete piece for each day. I’ve always seen the way we work as
improvisational jazz, a layering of distorted scales and vibrant color
palettes, layered style over style until we deem the piece complete. Gesso,
house paint, pastels, charcoal, acrylics, and oil paint. It is a constant flux
of creation and destruction, building up and tearing down.
Exile (망명) 36x24 Mixed Media on Canvas
“How are things going back in Korea?”
“They are good. I’m going to apply to grad school this
winter and I'm going to quit my bartending job. I want to dedicate my time fully to
painting.”
“No new girlfriends?”
“No, sometimes girls try to talk to me at the bar or leave
their phone numbers. I’ve just started to tell them I’m gay so that they leave
me alone. What about you?”
“No, I don’t really have time right now, but my Mom bothers
me about it every time we talk. When she asks when I’m going to have a
grandchild I just ask her what nationality she would like.”
Man from Seoul (서울 출신의 남자) 36x24 Mixed Media on Canvas
We head out to burritos for like the 10th time.
Afterwards we stop by Hak’s friends place in the Tenderloin. A____ is a young
painter still in school and has lofty dreams of moving to New York after school.
His studio is like many artist studios I have visited in the Tenderloin,
drenched in stale cigarette smoke, rows of empty liquor bottles, and a
kitchenette doubling as a work space. He rolls up a joint and passes it around.
It is a place that dreams are made and crushed, some place both Hak and I have
been before. The young artist’s studio is a lonely and sacred place filled with
uncertainty. We talk about life and art and school and the people we know.
“Just stick with it and you’ll be okay A____.” It’s the same
advice I’ve been given a million times.
The last few months of my life have been fairly chaotic.
There have been several curveballs thrown my way and I seem to always load up
and swing at nothing but air. Hak’s visit is a welcome reprieve to my daily
routine and the anxieties which plague my mind. When we paint together, all I really
focus on is the next move, the next painting. A culmination of all the skills I
have acquired and have yet to learn. It is a familiar place, a place I am
comfortable, the need to produce under restraints and a tight deadline. It
feels good to know that I have an art brother who’s going through the same
exact things as I am across the sea.
5 Days Left to Go (떠난지 5 일 남았습니다) 36x24 Mixed Media on Canvas
We head out to the MoMa, we visit the De Young, and we stop
by several gallery shows. Friends, family, and collectors stop by and say hello
at the studio. We eat more burritos than I am happy to admit and the work comes
fast and easily. We talk about the work during breaks, about the composition,
layout, and balance. We talk about things that we intend to do or sometimes we
just do them. We stop when we need to and we smoke too many cigarettes.
I’ve come to realize that there are no easy ways through
life. As I grow older and life continues, there are only more responsibilities
and more constraints. Life becomes a fight between work and personal life. And
the older I get, the only certainty is death. A life of memories only dictated
by what you put into it. The painting will be made no matter what, good or bad,
it is the process and the time in between that really counts.
The week passes by quickly and soon enough the week is up. We
stop by the studio one last time. We touch up, measure, sign, and name the
paintings. We head over to Hak’s favorite Thai place in the Tenderloin for our
last meal. I’m just glad it isn’t Mexican.
Flower Curtain (꽃 커튼) 30x24 Mixed Media on Canvas
“Did you enjoy your stay here? I’m sorry that we didn’t do
more fun stuff.”
“It was the perfect trip, I did everything I wanted to do.”
We go back home and he packs up his stuff and I drop him off
at the airport. I tell him I’ll try to sell the paintings as best I can, but
you can never really tell with these things.
“Don’t worry about that. The paintings are good.”
“I’ll try to take a trip out to Korea next summer.”
“Ok. Thank you for everything Daniel. I will see you soon.”
The Artists in the Studio (스튜디오의 아티스트)
When I get home, the house is filled with sounds of
celebration. My brother has invited friends and family over for his birthday and
there is a feeling of warmth and comfort. It feels good to be done with the
long week of endless painting. I have a flight to catch myself later that night
and I settle in to some whiskey and banter. I hug and chat with friends, some
who I’ve known for my whole life and it makes me happy to be in their company.
It might be the whiskey talking, but I feel overly
sentimental and have a conversation about my personal life with a friend,
something which rarely happens.
“What happened to S_____?”
“Nothing, just didn’t work out.” I pause for a moment. “Sometimes
people just want different things. I love her to death, but it’s just not the
way things were meant to be.”
“I thought you guys would work it out, you seemed to want
things to work out. You’ve never tried particularly hard in relationships,
until it was with her.”
I don’t know how to particularly reply to so I just say
something stupid like, “There are plenty of fish in the sea.”
Waiting in Ambush (매복에서 기다리고있다) 48x36 Mixed Media on Canvas
I tell my brother “happy birthday”, grab my bags and a
friend drops me off for my redeye. I have another whiskey at the airport bar and
barely make it through takeoff. I wake up in a different country, in a
different timezone, as a different person. I make my way to my childhood home
and say hello to my parents. We go visit my grandma who’s been in the hospital
and not feeling too well. It’s nice to just sit with her while I write this
story and reflect on the last few weeks. We don’t speak much, but I know that
she likes it when I just sit around with her. She asks if I have a new
girlfriend.
“No Grandma, no new girlfriend.”
“What happened to the last girl.”
“We’re still friends.”
“Well, then just forget about it.”
“Ok I’ll do that.”
“You should have a kid soon.”
“That’s not just up to me.”
As I’m sitting here writing this story I get a phone call
from a number I haven’t seen in a long time. I step outside and answer the
phone.
“Hello Daniel.”
“Hey.”
“How are you?”
“I’m in Taiwan, visiting my family. It’s nice to hear your
voice.”
In 8 days, so much of life has changed.
Flowers in the Mouth of A Beast (짐승의 입에 꽃) 48x36 Mixed Media on Canvas
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