Two Korean artists Moon Kyung-won and Jeon Joon-ho and Japanese artist Motoyuki Shitamichi have won the Noon Award, an art award given by the Gwangju Biennale Foundation. The foundation selects an established artist and an emerging artist whose works share an experimental and creative nature of the biennale event. The Korean team’s collaborative video project “El Fin del Mundo (The End of the World)” has been acknowledged for portraying the survival of two artists in a post-apocalyptic environ

Asia’s largest art event invites citizens, visitors to become part of artworkThe city of Gwangju has again turned itself into a huge contemporary art exhibition that experiments with and showcases the latest trends in the art world. The 9th Gwangju Biennale, opened Thursday, offers a variety of artworks not only at the main exhibition hall, but also at sites such as a Buddhist temple, a local market and a theater. Titled “Round Table,” this year’s exhibition features about 300 artworks by 92 ar

SARASOTA, Florida ― It is a still, hot day on Sarasota Bay as we slide our kayaks into the water. Too lazy to use our oars, we drift a little and watch the mullet jump while we wait for the last members of our tour to arrive. Suddenly a pelican swoops down and grabs a silvery fish, startling us.We set off a few minutes later, seven of us with little or no kayaking experience. Kelly, our guide, points his oar in the direction he wants us to go, then stays in the middle of our disorganized pack, s

Rihanna won the top prize of the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards for her “We Found Love” song on Thursday night in Los Angeles. British boy band One Direction was also in the spotlight, sweeping up three prizes including Best Pop Video and Best New Artist for their debut single “What Makes You Beautiful.” The other artists who won VMAs are Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, Coldplay, Calvin Harris and Demi Lovato. Korean singer Psy appeared briefly during the live show with host Kevin Hart, surprising and en

Art exhibition commemorates the 100th birthday of Korea’s beloved poet Baek SeokPaintings inspired by Korea’s beloved poet Baek Seok will be on display at Tong-In Auction Gallery in Seoul, which will open with a poetry reading on Thursday. The exhibition, organized by The Daesan Foundation and Tong-In Auction Gallery, will feature 33 paintings by 10 of Korea’s well-known painters including Kim Duk-ki, Lee In, Kim Sun-doo and Oh Won-bae to commemorate the 100th birthday of the poet Baek Seok (19

Travel agencies offer exclusive, customized services for very rich foreign travelersWhen Jessica Alba was spotted at a night club in Gangnam earlier this year, everyone wondered why the Hollywood star was in Korea. Photos taken at major tourist attractions in Seoul proved she was travelling with her family. Behind Alba’s stay in Seoul was a private travel service company, which arranged a private guided tour for her and her family. The service came with tour guides equipped with language skills

Korea should upgrade the quality of its travel services in order to attract more tourists and develop the travel industry, according to Jiny Jung, head of Cosmo.Jin Tour, a company which offers premium travel services to elite travelers. “More people from other parts of the world travel long distances to come to Korea as our national status rises. Amidst this trend, we should look back at our travel service quality and think about how we can improve it to draw more people to the country,” said J

SAN DIEGO ― Maybe you’ve always suspected that there was more to San Diego’s North County than beach towns, rolling hills, expat giraffes and a walled kingdom of brightly colored plastic. But frankly, they had me at beach towns.I always figured the rest ― even the two marquee attractions, Legoland in Carlsbad and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park near Escondido ― was just gravy. Or icing on the cake. Or maybe, given San Diego’s love of beer, the chaser after the pint.But now I’ve spent several days

Inaugural exhibition focuses on artistic efforts to create renaissance of Korean artAn art exhibition has unveiled the famous bull painting by Korean modern artist Lee Jung-seob to the public this week after it made brief public appearance at an auction two years ago. The painting, purchased by a pharmaceutical company CEO and art collector Ahn Byung-gwang, is the highlight of the inaugural exhibition of Seoul Museum, which was founded by Ahn. About 70 other paintings by modern Korean artists, w

Over 120 works by established Korean and foreign artists on the blockArtday, a subsidiary of the Herald Corporation, presents a special selection of modern and contemporary art this week, aimed at both novice and seasoned collectors. It features about 120 paintings by Korea’s modern and contemporary artists ― from established figures such as Kim Hwan-ki, Sa Suk-won, Lee Sook-ja and Kang Ik-joong to young artists Kim Dong-yoo, Lee Gil-woo and Bae Yoon-hwan. Japanese contemporary artists Yayoi Kus

The stock values of two major entertainment agency owners in Korea have exceeded 200 billion won ($176 million) on the back of growing popularity of K-pop around the world. According to chaebul.com, a website following South Korea’s conglomerates, stakes held by S.M. Entertainment’s Lee Soo-man came in at 242 billion won; YG Entertainment’s Yang Hyun-seok’s shares stood at 223.1 billion won at closing on Aug. 24.According to the website, foreign shares in S.M. Entertainment rose from 8.18 percen

Revamped award offers assistance to selected artistsThe National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea is holding its artists-of-the year exhibition as part of its efforts to discover and promote contemporary artists. The recipients of the 2012 Korea Artist Prize are Gim Hong-sok; Moon Kyung-won and Jeon Joon-ho as a team; Yee Soo-kyung; and Lim Min-ouk. The artists will showcase their new artwork at the exhibition from Aug. 31 to Nov. 11 at the Gwacheon branch of the museum. The museum will select

 Lee Sea-hyun presents his interpretation of Korean landscape and modern history in vivid colorsKorean artist Lee Sea-hyun, once acclaimed as the artist who can best portray his country by the famous Swiss art collector Uli Sigg, has brought new interpretation of Korean society and landscape to the Korean audience. Well-known for the red landscape painting series “Between Red,” Lee took his artistic endeavor to the next level with his new “Rainbow” series along with four sculptures for an upcomi

HOSHAYA, Israel (AP) ― It was nothing like this 3,000 years ago.An Israeli attraction meant to immerse tourists in an authentic, ancient biblical experience has outfitted its donkeys with wireless routers.At the historical park of Kfar Kedem in northern Israel, visitors decked out in biblical robes and headdresses ride donkeys through the rolling hills of the Galilee, learning how people lived in Old Testament times.Now they can also surf the web while touring the land of the Bible on one of the

TIVAT, Montenegro (AP) ― A newly developed luxury resort village called Porto Montenegro may finally be helping Montenegro’s image catch up with its overly glamorous portrayal in the 2006 James Bond film “Casino Royale.” Porto Montenegro ― sometimes called the Monte Carlo of the Adriatic ― has upgraded this tiny Balkan state from a favorite destination of average Russian and Serbian tourists to a mecca for some of the world’s wealthiest people.Located on the southern corner of the Adriatic Sea,

The Yanghyun Foundation announced on Thursday the selection of Mexican artist Abraham Cruzvillegas as the winner of the 5th Yanghyun Prize. Cruzvillegas, 44, received recognition in the international art scene with his installation and video works that reflect the unique social and economic circumstances in Mexico. “Cruzvillegas explores the social, historical meaning of an object and expresses the meanings through an artwork in different forms,” said the judges.  The Mexican artist has been act

When Union Pharmacy CEO Ahn Byung-gwang bought a print copy of the famous modern Korean painter Lee Jung-seob’s “Bull” painting in 1983, Ahn didn’t know who the artist was or whether it was just a print copy or an original painting. Now 29 years have passed, and he has became a collector of more than 100 paintings, including the authentic “Bull” painting, and is about to open a museum to share his collection with a wider audience. “I took cover from rain under the roof of a photo frame shop and

The Korea Consumer Agency said Wednesday it had detected a higher-than-safe levels of mercury in the lip balm products of the global cosmetic brand Kiehl’s. According to the consumer watchdog group, they found the lip balm exceeded the limit of one part per million of mercury after testing the Kiehl’s Lip Balm #1 SPF 4 Mint with lot number 18G100.The KCA also said they collected samples of the same brand’s lip balms with different product codes and other brands’ products, but found much lower le

The sluggish economy has hit the art fair market as seen in the number of foreign galleries stepping back from participating in this year’s Asia Top Gallery Hotel Art Fair Seoul, which is slated to open at the Westin Chosun from Friday to Sunday. The number of participating foreign art galleries decreased from 20 in 2010 to nine this year due to the poor economy around the world, which has also struck Korea. The total number of galleries participating decreased from 69 in 2010 to 52 this year. 

New Leipzig School’s artwork on exhibitWhen the Berlin Wall stood between East and West Germany for 29 years, a distinctive painting style developed on the eastern part of the thick concrete wall. Korean viewers can see the works of successors of East German art that are on exhibit at Seongnam Art Center under the title “German Now from Leipzig,” which offers a rare glimpse into how the art style developed during the era of Iron Wall and evolved after the unification. The exhibition may make som