Last penpal trade of 2013 Seoul // Chicago!!!! Happy 2014~

Heui and I decided to choose a poem and illustrate it for our last drawing swap of the year 2013

I just received Heui's AMAZING illustration in the mail a few days ago, set to Korean poet Yoon Dong-Ju 's poem:

Prologue

Let me have no shame
Under the heaven
Till I die

Even the sound of wind
Passing the leaves
Pained my heart
With a heart singing stars
I will love all dying things
And I must step my path
That's been given to me

Tonight also

The wind sweeps past among the stars

Heui's illo is a beautiful vision of a beautiful poem :)

 I chose a poem by Russian poet Anna Akhmatova:

Your lynx-eyes, Asia,
spy on my discontent;
they lure into the light
my buried self,
something the silence spawned,
no more to be endured
than the noon sun in Termez.
Pre-memory floods the mind
like molten lava on the sands...
as if I were drinking my own tears
from the cupped palms of a stranger's hands.
   -- 1945

I tried out painting on this thin sheet of birch wood

We both wrote our translated poems on the back of the artwork! (and they both seemed to be very emotional poems...ahaha)

A Metra ride to see the Viper and His Famous Orchestra

and a bunch of sketches along the way! Last night's venture to a downtown show.

On the metra ride to downtown.. 

 at the venue:

these sketches began to become a little inebriated towards the end...looks like the start of an ink-only sketchbook. My friend's husband was playing in the band so I ended up making weird portraits of all the members. yei!

Media Launch for Mexico tourism @Union Station Chicago

I had the lucky opportunity to tag along with Juancho SC Photography at the media launch for Mexico tourism's new marketing campaign reveal at Chicago's lovely Union Station downtown.

Some photos of the event:

the ceiling was lovely!

Some contemporary dancers:

And we were treated to some really nice mexican choco! :)

hum hum hum :d

Can't wait to visit Mexico! :)

USSAG: Erotic Friday 13th Opening

 Some people trying to figure my stuff out for me

that crazy lighting is from...

the disco floor!!

There were some mysterious masqueraders as well:

My lovely friend accompanying my lonely self to this show.

Afterwards, since it was 2nd Fridays (something similar to Vancouver's SWARM except more frequent! - all the local galleries open their doors to the public), we went to check out some other work being shown in neighboring galleries:

Very cool performance piece in the windows of ROOMS gallery:

(those are very uncanny stones they are playing with!)

Upcoming Show: Ugly Step Sister Gallery (FREAKY FRIDAY 13th)

I will be part of an upcoming group show "Erotic Friday the 13th" at Ugly Step Sister Gallery in the Pilsen Arts District next weekend (Opening nights are on Sept. 13 and Sept. 14).

(photo by Mike Dooley)

They will be showcasing some of my drawings among other artists (paintings and photography).

Erotic Friday the 13th Show
September 13 – October 6, 2013

Two Opening Receptions:
Friday, September 13, 6 - 9pm
Saturday, September 14, 6 - 10pm

Featuring artists from New York, Michigan & Chicago.

Lydia Fu, Joe Sikora, PravusArt, Nathan Graves Tuttle, Nolan Fellows, Andrew Ek, Tanya Tucci, Stafford Smith, Missy Dahl, Peter Walsh, Mike Dooley, Gerardo Villarreal, J.F. Bolet, Jennifer Anne Buckley, Vlad K.

Ugly Step Sister Art Gallery
1750 S. Union Street, Chicago, IL 60616
tel: 312.927.7546

For more information and directions: Ugly Step Sister's facebook page

a peak at work in progress for show: