Day 14 -- Class, Ikseondong, and Museum

After class this morning, I took the subway to Ikseondong, one of my favorite areas in Seoul. Ikseondong is full of hanok with restaurants, stores, photobooths, and more inside of them. The streets are very narrow and very crowded and I really enjoy the atmosphere. 



I walked around for a while before going to Cheongsudang Bakery, a gorgeous and very popular cafe in the area. In front of the cafe is a mini-forest of bamboo with lanterns hanging everywhere, and to enter the cafe you walk on stepping stones across a stream in the middle of the bamboo. The cafe interior is just as aesthetically pleasing -- the tables themselves had streams, rocks, and plants on them. I ordered a peach montblanc and a tangerine drink, both of which were beautifully presented and tasted amazing. I had never have a montblanc before and I absolutely loved it.



After eating and reading at the cafe for a while, I walked to the Arario Museum. The museum was less focused on paintings and more focused on sculptures and works made from different mediums, and I saw a lot of really unique things. One work I liked was a portrait of Andy Warhol that was on a giant aluminum plate. Parts of the portrait were simply painted on, but other parts (mostly the hair) were carved into the plate, which created an interesting visual effect (hard to see from the picture!). Another noteworthy piece I saw seemed like a regular portrait painting from afar, but was actually a painting of a painting, and painted on top of it were the reflection of a museum-goer taking a picture of the painting, the museum's lights, and the other works featured in the museum. Essentially, it was a painting of what it looks like when you try to take a picture of a piece covered by a reflective surface. I thought it was a really cool idea and very humorous. 



By far the most interesting piece I saw today (and perhaps the most memorable and shocking piece of art I have ever seen) was entitled "Self" by Marc Quinn. The work was in very low lighting and was somewhat separated from the viewer so you can't see it up close, and at first I thought it was simply a model of the artist's head. When I read the description I realized that it was indeed a model of the artist's head, but the catch is that it was made out of ten pints of his frozen blood, which is why it had to be stored in low lighting in a special, refrigerated case. I also learned after doing research online that the artist makes one of these frozen blood busts every five years, so every time he makes one you can see how he has aged. Long story short, this piece blew my mind, both because of how creepy it is and also because of how creative it is.

After the museum, I headed back to my dorm and did some homework. Even though we had a vocabulary test on Monday, we have another one tomorrow on Wednesday, so I had to study a lot alongside my regular work. I had ramen in my room for dinner and showered before going to bed.

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