The Korean traditional attire of hanbok will be showcased at an international fine art event next month in Miami. At the opening art show of Art Miami, 12 models in hanbok dresses, designed by Lee Hye-soon of the hanbok brand Damyeon, will be walking among the 500 guests, giving them a close look at their elegant lines and fabrics and sophisticated colors and patterns. “I am invited to showcase hanbok at the opening art show titled ‘Fashion is Art.’ I am happy with the title because it’s the phr

The faces and gestures of Dutch artist Folkert de Jong’s human body sculptures look relaxed and joyful, without that serious aura that often leads viewers of artwork to struggle to make sense of what they see. But behind the sculptures’ happy demeanors, de Jong has hidden some important meanings, represented in the materials used for his sculptures. De Jong is well-known for using industrial materials such as Styrofoam and polyurethane foam and imbuing them with social and political meaning. “Th

Designers created different images of a smart, city woman for the 2013 spring and summer season at Seoul Fashion Week last week. To represent a confident urban attitude, they took a structural and practical approach, adding color and soft details to prevent the urban looks from becoming either too strong or pedestrian. Inspired by vintage playing cards, Andy & Debb applied illustrations of the king, queen, jack, joker and ace of hearts to blouses, pant suits, jump suits and long dresses. A broad

Hawaiian Airlines offers discounts on weekday flights to Hawaii and 11 cities in the U.S. The special promotion is valid for weekday departures only and for flights scheduled through Feb. 28, 2013. Tickets must be purchased by Dec. 14. The roundtrip tickets for economy class between Incheon and Honolulu is 645,000 won ($590), 990,000 won for New York and 845,000 won to 10 cities including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland and Seatt

The U.S. has been referred to as a melting pot of different races, religions and cultures. And the culinary cultures of 50 states reflect such cultural diversity. As it’s difficult to sample dishes from different states in the U.S., the U.S. Embassy in Seoul is offering an online culinary promotion that introduces culinary cultures of every state. During the promotion period through Jan. 16, 2013, the campaign asks Facebook users to leave posts about American cuisine, selects those who received

The Korea Tourism Organization unveiled a Korea tourism campaign on the world famous Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in the U.S. The KTO installed a billboard advertisement on the exterior of Hollywood & Highland Center, a popular shopping mall and entertainment complex, on Wednesday that will be up for four months until Feb. 19. The KTO expects the billboard advertisement to raise the profile of Korea as a travel destination and to fully utilize the exposure to the mass international au

Nami Island, the small half-moon-shaped island in Chuncheon, is rising as one of the must-visit tourist destinations in Korea, attracting more than 500,000 foreign tourists so far this year. The island officials expect the number will reach over 600,000 by the end of the year. The number of foreign and Korean visitors is expected to be 2.5 million. “It’s the number of foreign visitors who come on group tours, and does not include the visitors who come individually,” said Minn Kyung-hyuk, executi

Daegu-based painter Kang Min-jeong chooses damaged fruits and vegetables that don’t meet market standards as subjects of her still life paintings, looking to bring out the hidden beauty and quality of the produce neglected by others. The mid-career artist, who studied western painting at Daegu’s Keimyung University, showcases her new paintings at the Daegu Art Festival, which kicked off Wednesday and runs through Nov. 5.Finding inspiration in natural materials, she has devoted over two decades o

An art project by Korean artists is on exhibit at the TINA B. Contemporary Art Festival in Prague, giving fresh perspectives on Korean art to the global audience. The project titled “Woo:ri,” the Korean word for “us” or “we,” showcases installations and media art at various places throughout the historic city of Prague during the art festival, which ends on Wednesday.The annual TINA B. festival, which stands for “This Is Not Another Biennale,” aims to bring contemporary art closer to general peo

Choi Jae-eun, a Korean artist based in Japan and Germany, is holding an exhibition that offers a fresh perspective on the relationship between human beings and the sky. The 56-year-old artist is well-known for her philosophical reflection on nature and experimental approach to contemporary art. Choi explores themes of the finite and infinite and the flow of time at the new exhibition being held at Kukje Gallery in Seoul, representing the ideas through diverse works such as photography, film and

Russian author Ludmila Ulitskaya received the Park Kyung-ni literary prize at a ceremony held in Wonju, Gangwon Province, on Friday. Ulitskaya, 69, is the author of more than 14 novels and short stories including “Daniel Stein, Interpreter,” “Kukotsky’s Case” and “Sonechka.”Having worked in the field of genetics and biochemistry, the author debuted with her first novel “Sonechka” when she was 40 and instantly rose to prominence in the literary scene. She has also won prestigious literary awards,

MILL RUN, Pennsylvania ― Masterpiece. Art. Perfection. Many fancy words and rapturous phrases have described Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous house.It’s all true. But what is also true is that I kept thinking, wow, this house is not childproof. A 2-year-old could tumble out that low, unlocked window and fall to his death! A toddler would drown in that unfenced plunge pool! The railings aren’t high enough. The floor is too hard. And that giant open fireplace, what a safety issue. An

Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, presents the country’s first exhibition of works by British sculptor Anish Kapoor. The first major show by Kapoor in East Asia, the exhibit encompasses the artist’s major works from the early years of his career to the present. Known to the general global audience as the creator of the giant red steel “Orbit” tower in London Olympic Park, Kapoor has enjoyed great success, holding a solo exhibition at London’s Royal Academy of Arts as the first living artist in 2009.

A week of fashion shows for the 2013 spring and summer season kicked off with menswear collections shown on Monday and Tuesday at Seoul Fashion Week. Although womenswear shows command center stage, men’s shows are gaining momentum, slowly establishing a distinctive Korean style. “Menswear collections have evolved tremendously and established a Korean identity over the past years, which is still lacking in womenswear,” Elisa Pervinca Bellini, editor of Vogue Italy who has returned to SFW for the

Two biennales in Korea serve as a bridge for international art exchanges, building on common purpose and roles of contemporary art events and offering networking opportunities.Gwangju Biennale, the largest contemporary art event in Asia, will hold the first World Biennale Forum, a gathering of representatives of more than 30 international biennales from Oct. 29-31 in Gwangju.Busan Biennale, an event which is just now emerging on the global scale, held its second Asia Biennale Forum on Oct. 13, g

Artday, a subsidiary of the Herald Corporation, presents a special selection of nature-inspired paintings for its fall auction and exhibition this week. It features a total of 134 paintings by Korean and foreign artists including established figures such as Lee U-fan, Chon Kyung-ja, Oh Chi-gyun and Sa Suk-won and internationally celebrated artists Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, Joan Miro and Yin Jun. Works of young Korean artists such as Do Sung-wook, Yoon Hyun-mi and Byung Woong-pil are also o

NEW YORK (AP) ― Celebrating a design 40 years in the making, dignitaries on Wednesday dedicated a new memorial park to President Franklin Roosevelt overlooking the United Nations that he helped found.The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, on an island in the East River, “will stand forever as a monument to the man who brought us through the Great Depression and brought us victory over great evil,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg told several hundred people at the dedication ceremony.Former Presid

Land. Sea. Land. Sea.Ferry. Road. Ferry. RoadFish for lunch. Fish for dinner. Pancakes for breakfast (yes, you can have fish if you really must).A looping trip west out of Vancouver, British Columbia, means a lot of water and mountains that get in the way. But the Canadians have tamed their pockmarked geography with winding roads, deep tunnels and, most of all, ferries that link the once-isolated villages and big cities.It’s a fragmented trip. Just when you start rolling along the highway, you c

Hyundai Card Music has launched an indie music compilation album project, releasing its first collection on Thursday. Titled “It Tracks,” the compilation album aims to introduce indie music to fans and other listeners. The online music website plans to release four albums a year ― an album every three months. “‘It Tracks’ offers a chance for indie musicians to meet fans through albums and concerts. Fans can also listen to a variety of indie songs on one album,” said an official of Hyundai Card,

From strong eye images to peaceful landscapes, artist explores life’s core values in his ‘Videocracy’Korean media artist Yook Keun-byung, once acclaimed as “the next Paik Nam June” in the global media art scene, has not held an official solo exhibition for 14 years in Korea.After a huge success at Kassel Documenta in 1992 and other major international biennales, he chose to stay overseas while participating in exhibitions from time to time in Korea. Yook, now 55, who seemed to have been forgotte