The Seoul Metro Project

What do you get when you mix 17 photographers, copious amounts of coffee and over 400 subway stations? The Seoul Metro Project!

The Seoul Metro Project is a collaborative effort between 17 members of the Seoul Photo Club which photo documents over 400 stops comprising Seoul’s subway system. The club has been working on this project for years…literally. With all collaborative artworks, group commitment and solidity can sometimes have surface issues; however, the dedicated artists pulled through and realized none of the hiccups along the way could prevent this project from materializing.

The Seoul Metro Project

The overall theme of the of the project is difference, “a term coined by the philosopher Jacques Derrida to combine two senses of the French verb differer (to differ, and to defer or postpone) in a noun which is spelt differently from difference but pronounced in the same way. The point of this neologism is to indicate simultaneously two senses in which language denies us the full presence of any meaning: first, that no linguistic element has a positive meaning, only an effect of meaning arising from its differences from other elements; second, that presence or fullness of meaning is always deferred from one sign to another in an endless sequence.”(Parker Pg.1, The Seoul Metro Project)

In addition to photographing assigned stations, each photographer submitted a first-person narrative about their experiences within the metro. Below, I have shared some quotes from a few of the contributing photographers’ written submissions:

“I do not fully understand the kindness of strangers, why someone would strike up a casual conversation with me simply for the joy of it or why someone would offer to show me a part of their country I have never seen, a place they are proud of, despite having only just met me and understanding little of who I am or where I am from.” – Flash Parker

“The interaction or sometimes conspicuous lack of interaction between people on the metro is fascinating. Vendors, passengers, buskers alike crowd the metro station, all interacting – or not interacting – en masse, day in and day out.” – Andrew Leonard

“Shortly thereafter, the ever-louder ‘clack-clack’clack’ of a cane being struck against the concrete announced the return of her husband, for whom she had evidently been patiently waiting. In reply, and I suppose to signal to him her location, she rapped her own cane loudly on the ground a few times. Reunited, the two boarded the next train.” – Sam Wigginton

“I was told once that at rush hour in Seoul, close to a million people would be underground riding the rails. I was also surprised to see that although there are so many people down below, none really interacted; most were lost in their own little world.” – Joe Tursi

“From kooky bargains like the five-disl collection of “Classic American Rock Songs” (abounding with tracks from the Swedish band Abba), to the ultimate amalgamation of form & function in the pink jagged piece of plastic that removes glogged hair from a sink pipe, we found many rides worth of entertaining merchandise.” – Aaron Brown

“If one is prepared and aware, the Orange Line can transcend a simple transit between points A and B, and become a journey between points in architecture, time, and culture.” – Aaron Raisey

“Picture the color of your bed, the paint on your walls and the sound of the unbalanced ceiling fan that lulled you to sleep. Some of these old details may be a little hazy but if you think hard enough you can recall everything. Details are the building blocks of our memories.” – Colin Roohan

“Hundreds of stations spanning three provinces, millions of eyes, a single goal: the desire to transpose. All of this boils down to a simple experience; anonymity in a cavernous expanse. This is the Seoul Subway.” – Dylan Goldby

“I find being the outsider gives me a unique perspective; it lets me strike out on my own. I’ve often been a person who has done things differently to others in life; this has sometimes given me a unique perspective in photography, and on life.” – Simon Bond

“It is a familiar yet easily formed metaphor; the subway is the circulatory system of a city. Effortlessly pulsating just below the steel and concrete skin.” – Jacob McEndollar

“In/out, up/down, curved/straight, at rest/in motion – these dichotomies are always at play in the subway.” – Anthony Dell’Ario

“You will also notice so much character in the people around you. It was an eye opening reminder that there are good photographs everywhere – you don’t always need to go to some elaborate place to take compelling pictures.” – Brian Keathley

“To me, during the days I spent riding its rails and exploring its stations, Gyeongui came to represent solitude, peace, and a time for introspection.” – Jesse Lord

This link will take you to MagCloud, where you can order a printed or digital version of The Seoul Metro Project. I hope that you appreciate our work and share it with others.

 

 

 

 

 

Moving Ahead, Two Wheels At A Time

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving ~ Albert Einstein

Seoul, Korea

The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine. ~John Howard

Luang Prabang, Laos

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man’s convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man’s brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle. ~ Elizabeth West

Tulsa, Oklahoma

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle. ~ Ernest Hemingway

Angkor, Cambodia

Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I have hope for the human race. ~ H.G. Wells

Seoul, Korea

As a kid I had a dream – I wanted to own my own bicycle. When I got the bike I must have been the happiest boy in Liverpool, maybe the world. I lived for that bike. Most kids left their bike in the backyard at night. Not me. I insisted on taking mine indoors and the first night I even kept it in my bed. ~ John Lennon

Luang Prabang, Laos

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking. ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Bodhgaya, India

If you worried about falling off the bike, you’d never get on. ~ Lance Armstrong

Varanasi, India

It’s not about the bike ~ Lance Armstrong

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Suddenly the nickel-clad horse takes the bit in its mouth and goes slanting for the curbstone defying all prayers and all your powers to change its mind — your heart stands still, your breath hangs fire, your legs forget to work. ~ Mark Twain

Seoul, Korea

Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There’s something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym. ~ Bill Nye the Science Guy

Siem Reap, Cambodia

It is the unknown around the corner that turns my wheels. ~ Heinz Stucke

Sokcho, Korea

The bicycle, the bicycle, surely should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets. ~ Christopher Morely

Bodhgaya, India

If I can bicycle, I bicycle. ~ David Attenborough

Seoul, Korea

Whoever invented the bicycle deserves the thanks of humanity. ~ Lord Charles Beresford

Luang Prabang, Laos

I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like ~ Queen

Seoul, Korea

Portrait of The Indian

A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people. – Mohandas GandhiA coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave. – Mohandas Gandhi

A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes. – Mohandas Gandhi

A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion. -Mohandas Gandhi

A weak man is just by accident. A strong but non-violent man is unjust by accident. – Mohandas Gandhi

Action expresses priorities. – Mohandas Gandhi

All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth. – Mohandas Gandhi

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.
– Mohandas Gandhi

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. – Mohandas Gandhi

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching. – Mohandas Gandhi

Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding. – Mohandas Gandhi

God sometimes does try to the uttermost those whom he wishes to bless. – Mohandas Gandhi

But for my faith in God, I should have been a raving maniac. – Mohandas Gandhi

Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed. – Mohandas Gandhi

Culture of the mind must be subservient to the heart. – Mohandas Gandhi

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances. – Mohandas Gandhi

Each one prays to God according to his own light. – Mohandas Gandhi

Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth. – Mohandas Gandhi

Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone. – Mohandas Gandhi

Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into. – Mohandas Gandhi

Fear has its use but cowardice has none. – Mohandas Gandhi

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. – Mohandas Gandhi

For me every ruler is alien that defies public opinion. – Mohandas Gandhi

Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion. – Mohandas Gandhi

Glory lies in the attempt to reach one’s goal and not in reaching it. – Mohandas Gandhi

I believe that a man is the strongest soldier for daring to die unarmed. – Mohandas Gandhi

I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following. -Mohandas Gandhi

I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others. – Mohandas Gandhi

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people. – Mohandas Gandhi

I would heartily welcome the union of East and West provided it is not based on brute force. – Mohandas Gandhi

If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide. – Mohandas Gandhi

Imitation is the sincerest flattery. – Mohandas Gandhi

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place. – Mohandas Gandhi

Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. – Mohandas Gandhi

Intolerance betrays want of faith in one’s cause. – Mohandas Gandhi

In a gentle way, you can shake the world. – Mohandas Gandhi

This post is dedicated to the beauty of the Indian people. A simply fascinating culture that is indescribable.

Bobble on my friends, bobble on.

Chromatics

Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors. Color categories and physical specifications of color are also associated with objects, materials, light sources, etc., based on their physical properties such as light absorption, reflection, or emission spectra.  – wikipedia.org

With the exception of Christmas lights, Winter is a very bleak time for an artist. The colors of fall are last sign of life until the following spring, you’re left with snow, sleet and dreary skies. A large part of my photographic esthetic is based on color, thus the purpose of this post is to share my love of color and energize my viewers during this drab season. I hope that these warm scenes have the same effect on you as they do on me.

Bodhgaya, India

The color of the object illuminated partakes of the color of that which illuminates it.
Leonardo da Vinci

Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

The whole world, as we experience it visually, comes to us through the mystic realm of color.
Hans Hofmann

Anyang Art Park, South Korea

It is not the form that dictates the color, but the color that brings out the form.
Hans Hofmann

Georgetown, Malaysia

Color is sensibility in material form, matter in its primordial state.
Yves Klein Quotes

Seoul, Korea

Seek the strongest color effect possible.. the content is of no importance.
Henri Matisse

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.
Claude Monet Quotes

Bodhgaya, India

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way–things I had no words for.
Georgia O’Keeffe

Seoul, Korea

Why do two colors, put one next to the other, sing? Can one really explain this? no. Just as one can never learn how to paint.
Pablo Picasso

Las Vegas, Nevada

There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
Pablo Picasso

Seoul, Korea

You can’t be at the pole and the equator at the same time. You must choose your own line, as I hope to do, and it will probably be color.
Vincent van Gogh

Rolous, Cambodia

Penang, Malaysia

Seoul, Korea

Las Vegas, Nevada

Boryeong, Korea

Seoul, Korea

Seoul, Korea

Narita City, Japan

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Seoul, Korea

Seoul, Korea

Anyang, Korea

Las Vegas, Nevada

Seoul, Korea

Merry Christmas everyone.

To Market, To Market

To someone in the United States, the term market can mean a number of things. We typically buy our food/produce from bright, clean grocery stores where food is packaged in catchy labeling with lively colors. Many of us are so far removed from our produce that we have forgotten the art of picking out that perfect piece of produce. In the west, convenience is key. Most families trump freshness and quality with convenience and affordability.

The more I travel, the more I realize how disconnected most westerners are with their food. We often have difficulty naming all of the ingredients on a package and we typically don’t know where most of our goods originated. This post is dedicated to the market – markets that have existed for centuries in countries all over the world. They help locals make a living and provide much needed commerce for urban areas.

In the market there are curiosities aplenty, smells and sounds that tantalize the senses.

I have trouble with seafood because it tastes like a dock. – Doug Coupland

Noryangjin Seafood Market, Seoul, South Korea

A man’s worth has its season, like fruit. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Night Market, Luang Prabang, Laos

I think people should be free to engage in any sexual practices they choose; they should draw the line at goats though. – Elton John

Kolkata, India

If life gives you limes, make margaritas. – Jimmy Buffett

Siem Reap, Cambodia

As long as there’s a few farmers out there, we’ll keep fighting for them. – Willie Nelson

Chow Kit Market, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. – Winston Churchill

Hyoja-dong Market, Seoul, Korea

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. – Harriet Van Horne

Luang Prabang, Laos

The lack of money is the root of all evil. – Mark Twain

New Market, Siem Reap, Cambodia

I’m trying to lead a good Christian life, so there ain’t too much spicy to tell about me. – Loretta Lynn

Garak Market, Seoul, Korea

A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy? – Albert Einstein

Saigon, Vietnam

He who does not travel does not know the value of men. – Moorish proverb

Hogg Market, Kolkata, India

I kissed my first girl and smoked my first cigarette on the same day. I haven’t had time for tobacco since. – Arturo Toscanini

Hogg Market, Kolkata, India

Porkchops and bacon, my two favorite animals. – Homer Simpson

Night Market, Luang Prabang, Laos

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hogg Market, Kolkata, India

By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day. – Robert Frost

Seoul Flea Market, Seoul, South Korea

There are children who are working in textile businesses in Asia who would be prostitutes on the streets if they did not have those jobs. – Lawrence Summers

New Market, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Work is a necessary evil to be avoided. – Mark Twain

Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

A nation must be embraced, rehabilitated and expressed as a tangible sign of human creativity and as an integral element of mankind’s heritage. – Abdelaziz Bouteflika

Hyoja-Dong Market, Seoul, South Korea

Eating rice cakes is like chewing on a foam coffee cup, only less filling. – Dave Barry

Luang Prabang, Laos

I like to pick my own vegetables. – Shelley Duvall

New Market, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways. – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Noryangjin Market, Seoul, South Korea

All men are equal before fish. – Herbert Hoover

New Market, Siem Reap, Cambodia

A man must dream a long time in order to act with grandeur, and dreaming is nursed in darkness. – Jean Genet

New Market, Siem Reap, Cambodia

So if anybody wants to get me something, get me 60 crabs – one for each year. I don’t want no diamonds, I don’t want no shoes, I don’t want no party. I want some crabs. – Patti LaBelle

Mukho Harbor Market, South Korea

It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance? – Ronald Reagan

Namdaemun Market, Seoul, South Korea

One mustn’t ask apple trees for oranges, France for sun, women for love, life for happiness. – Gustave Flaubert

Hyoja-Dong Market, Seoul, South Korea

Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race. – H. G. Wells

Namdaemun Market, Seoul, South Korea

Fish die belly upward, and rise to the surface. Its their way of falling. – Andre Gide

Shindang Market, Seoul, South Korea

I never make a trip to the United States without visiting a supermarket. To me they are more fascinating than any fashion salon. – Wallis Simpson

Duong Dong Market, Phu Quoc, Vietnam

To take a look at more photos, click HERE, where you’ll find all of my sets on Flickr.

Family

This holiday season let’s all be thankful for the ones who truly matter – Family.

Kolkata, India

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!  ~Albert Einstein

Bodhgaya, India

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.  ~Joyce Brothers

Phu Quoc, Vietnam

You don’t choose your family.  They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.  ~Desmond Tutu

Angkor, Cambodia

An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship.  ~Spanish Proverb

Seoul, Korea

The great advantage of living in a large family is that early lesson of life’s essential unfairness.  ~Nancy Mitford

Phu Quoc, Vietnam

Family life is a bit like a runny peach pie – not perfect but who’s complaining?  ~Robert Brault

Bodhgaya, India

We cannot destroy kindred:  our chains stretch a little sometimes, but they never break.  ~Marquise de Sévigné

Georgetown, Malaysia

I don’t have to look up my family tree, because I know that I’m the sap.  ~Fred Allen

Phu Quoc, Vietnam

Are we not like two volumes of one book?  ~Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

Phu Quoc, Vietnam

Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.  ~Anthony Brandt

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us to become our best while looking our worst.  ~Marge Kennedy

Oklahoma, USA

In time of test, family is best.  ~Burmese Proverb

Rural Korea

A climber puts in his time on Seoraksan.

When most Westerners hear that I lived in Korea for a couple of years they almost always assume that Korean landscape is comparable to that of South East Asia. They are incredibly wrong, have they not watched the opening scene of M*A*S*H when the helicopter makes its way over several mountain passes? Korea, from north to south, seems to be knotted with numerous mountain ranges that sprawl out in every direction.

The Taebaek Mountains are a very long mountain range which runs from Ulsan in the southern part of South Korea to the city of Tongchon, located in North Korea. The mountain range, roughly 311 miles long, has an average height of 1000 meters (or about 3,280 feet tall). From an ecological standpoint the Taebaek Mountain Range has been a vital part of Korea’s livelihood throughout time. The expansive range is mostly covered in coniferous forest and provides an ideal ecosystem for many native plants and animals found in Korea. Furthermore, two highly significant rivers in South Korea, the Han and the Nakdong have their origins here.

Seoraksan, the highest mountain in the Taebaek Range and the third highest in Korea is the one I would like to focus on. Seoraksan National Park attracts tourists by the thousands annually. Visitors come for a number of reasons but the main attraction is this regions beauty. Hiking is a Korean national pastime and it is extremely prevalent here. At times the trails become so crowded hikers have to stand and wait in line. If you decide to go try your hand at climbing Ulsanbawi, a very unique and rigorous climb. The trail is well marked and footing is typically not an issue, just keep a moderate pace and your hands out of your pockets to avoid any dangerous falls. Make it a point to stop and look at the Buddhist temples towards the beginning of the trail as they will not disappoint in their beauty. About 2/3 of the way into the trek you are greeted with over 800 stairs in route to the peak.  I noticed this is a point at which many people stop and head back down. DON’T. The view at the top is exciting and the ocean air making its way inland is exhilarating.

A temple volunteer organizes personalized prayer tiles.

Life on the Ganges

      For those who have been to India, Varanasi was surely on your destinations list. For travelers planning to go in the future the case should be the same. The stories you will read and hear about Varanasi are all true: monkeys, cows, rivers, ghats, alleys, crowds, smells, corpses, cremations, touts, every bit of it. As the noted birthplace of the Hindu deity Shiva, this city on the water has been seen in Hindu texts for thousands of years. Thus, “the luminous one” is a propitious place for Hindus in India and throughout the world to come and rinse their sins off in the Ganges. It is also believed that dying and being cremated in Varanasi confirms the freedom of an individual’s soul from its cycle of wandering.

A walk or boat ride along the ghats (a broad set of steps providing access to water) at dusk is truly remarkable. To put it bluntly, life is what transpires at the ghats. They are otherworldly and seem to almost take on a pulse of their own – a microcosm of what India stands for. In my pre-trip research and readings on Varanasi I read mostly of the ghats and sights they contain, tips on the do’s and don’ts of public cremation etiquette, how to successfully haggle with boatmen, and that never, ever, under any circumstance are you to touch the water of the Ganges for fear of your feeble foreigner skin disintegrating. The Lonely Planet only briefly mentions what is known as the “Old City,” which is the area of narrow maze-like alleyways bordered with countless shops, temples, and guesthouses. If the ghats are like the metaphorical heartbeat of Varanasi the “Old City’s” alleyways leading the way there are the veins.

I found I couldn’t swivel my head fast enough to keep up with the commotion. One second you have to squeeze your body against the walls for a loaded motorbike to snake through while the next second you’re stopped dead in your tracks by a massive bull staring right into your eyes. This is a traveler’s playground, the dangerous merry-go-round that used to throw kids off left and right with no regret. Rules? Nah, who needs them? The “Old City” has no rules. As a photojournalist and avid traveler I highly recommend immersing yourself in the “Old City.” If it weren’t for the few labels on clothing and government guards toting automatic weapons I may have been confused as to which century I was in. Browse the markets and chat with friendly vendors. Enjoy the hand-painted advertisements draped in dust from decades of abuse, while you stroll past sipping a Thums Up, you will enjoy your experience in Varanasi all the more.

Click here to see more from my travels in India.

A Straight Shot of Matrimony

I had known my friend Soo for roughly two years when she asked my wife and I to attend her wedding. Naturally, we were thrilled and agreed to come without hesitation. As we sat talking further with Soo, we learned that her fiancé was from Buyeo, a city an hour or so outside Seoul, which is where the wedding would commence. Soo told us not to worry about transportation; there would be a shuttle bus that would provide passage to and from the festivities.

The day of the wedding came and we met our friends outside of the designated subway station, then walked to find our bus. When we boarded we were happy to see some old coworkers, which helped ease any concerns we had about not being able to communicate with the wedding party. Our former coworkers introduced us to Soo’s parents who seemed very happy to have us along. Her father showed us to some seats, shook our hands, and handed us a bag of cherry tomatoes and peanuts for the ride. As we made our way out of Seoul and eventually hit commuter traffic, Soo’s father, and what we assumed to be her uncle, began handing out alcohol. It was at this point, at 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning, that this wedding was showing potential to become one of the best I may ever attend.

     The ceremony was your typical Korean assembly-line-fashioned wedding, with different wedding parties lined up before and after our friend’s, to go through the 10 minute ceremony before all the white envelope-giving (money-bearing of course) guests were herded upstairs to pillage the expansive Korean buffet.

When we couldn’t bear to look at another plate of food, we made our way out the wedding hall and toward the bus. Now, when I say bus I’m not painting a vivid enough image of the gaudy monstrosity. Buses in Korea, those that haul guests to and from weddings, are…interesting. These incredible machines adorn neon lights, moveable tables, chandeliers, disco balls, and a karaoke screen hooked up to a massive set of tweeters and subwoofers. All of these optional features turn the ordinary wedding experience into the extraordinary.

The lights dimmed and Soo’s father grabbed the microphone. He mumbled something that, through my translation, sounded something like “My baby just got married. Now let’s party our asses off! Assa!!” With what seemed to be choreographed perfection, he stopped speaking and we were greeted with two equally stimulating events. First, the disco ball turned on, illuminating the whole bus in a disarray of overdramatic lighting, and second, the bittersweet sound of questionable-quality, mass-produced, mid-eighties, Korean balladry began tantalizing our ear drums. In a matter of seconds the older guests on the bus began passing out libations to the masses, and if you have spent any time around an ajushi, drinks are never to be turned down. What started with room temperature Cass transitioned into equally tepid soju. I was hoping to draw the refusal line at some point but as I turned my head, said point was forced into my mouth and unfortunately it wasn’t soju. At first the texture was reminiscent of jellyfish (which I enjoy) and then the taste hit me – the foul taste of ammonia. I recalled having heard of this Korean delicacy from a friend, but I had never experienced the trauma first hand. What I was chewing on was in fact Hong-eo, fermented stingray. In a rash attempt not to lose my lunch, I swallowed the sea creature as quickly as possible and proceeded to finish my beer, as well as my wife’s. Cass had never tasted so good. As we karaoke’d back into central Seoul the party bus didn’t slow down in the slightest. We returned to our point of departure, thanked Soo’s father along with the rest of the wedding party for such a great time and made our way home.

It is crucial that you never turn down an invitation to a Korean wedding. It just may turn out to be the ride of your life (minus the stingray).

Get Me Away, I’m Dying

Zac Heimdale has been an integral part of the Tulsa art scene for more than a decade now, and his upcoming gallery exhibit, Get Me Away, I’m Dying, is scheduled to open Sept. 2 at the Lot No. 6 Gallery in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Zac James Heimdale

This will be Zac’s first show since graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2010, and with a newly refined vision for his craft he is very excited to present his paintings to the public. One word can be used to describe his latest collection – prodigious. The sheer size of his paintings alone is enough to make you stop and gaze. That is until you delve further into the meaning behind his work. Below is an excerpt of Zac’s mission as an artist:

“I possess in my work, a surface playfulness that acts to subvert the underlying darker themes of loss, sexual frustration, aggression, loneliness, physical injury or physical irregularities, and themes of having no home or of being caught in some limbic state.” He goes on to state, “The figures in my work gush with an immovable longing and they often stand alone, even if there is more than one occupying the image.” With underlying themes of self-awareness and consciousness of the human condition, Zac’s paintings are sure to have the public feeling inquisitive rather than indifferent.

The opening reception for Get Me Away, I’m Dying will be at the newly revamped Lot No. 6 gallery, located at 1323 E 6th Street in Tulsa’s Pearl District. Lot No.6, which is also an operating bar, is not your typical gallery setting. With drinks and music also on the agenda, Lot No. 6 is sure to provide an enjoyable atmosphere for all.

Zac poses for a portrait in front of his latest painting.

To see more of Zac’s work visit his website.

For directions to the Lot No. 6 gallery click here.