Crazy Multiply Art Collective: Malaise in Seoul
The Crazy Multiply Art Collective was at it again this past weekend with an intriguing show titled Malaise. While I had previously been a curator and worked with the ever impressive Amy Smith for Crazy Multiply, I had decided to take some time off as my schedule has been filled with lots of baby time. The babe wouldn’t stop me from supporting the lovely, now, foursome that has taken the reigns though.
Current curators for the collective include Amy Smith, Unmaru, Kaleena Carter, and Miss Baik and boy did they put on a show.
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The collective had recently taken to showing work in the down and dirty but all the more alluring Mullae-dong just south of the Han River but brought Malaise back to where it all began in Yogiga. Yogiga situated in Hongdae between Hapjeong subway station and Sangsu subway station has recently seen a slight make-over that anyone that attended parties in the past probably noticed. With a new, albeit already chipping, coat of white paint on the walls and floor, the space was perfectly imperfect for just such a Crazy Multiply show.
Art, music, craft beer and people from all over looking to attend something a little less artsy fartsy and a little more we’re-all-apart-of-the-art-in-the-art-and-of-the-art were there.
Malaise featured visual works from Andrea DeJong, Jenny Robinson, 개토, 최지우 and Ben Miller that hung on the walls and was juxtaposed with the auditory stimulus of Container Drivers, Vidulgi Ooyoo and Party Fears.
Jenny Robinson’s pieces made from ceramic clay, hanji paper, powdered copper and acrylic paint seemed to invite the viewer to step onto the surface of the moon or into a burnt down building clearly asking everyone to take more adventure and look beneath the surface. What we will find is anyone’s guess.
Russell Moore, a musician that has frequented the Crazy Multiply shows to the great enjoyment of all those in attendance teamed up with Ian-Jon Hutchinson on the harmonica as Container Drivers and played what I would call gritty Louisiana-esque bumpin’ thumpin’ and jivin’ music. They got the real movin’ and groovin’ started for the night.
Upon entering the space 최지우’s work was the first to welcome the viewer. Her eerie hospital beds and what seemed to be a farm field during the apocalypse with a red sky beckoning viewers to look closer was raw and intricately aware of those watching from the outside. Her pieces were the perfect invitation drawing people in to experience all that Crazy Multiply had in store.
Vidulgi OoyoO was a hit with the crowd as they played their post-rock melodies that seemed both eerie and calming at the very same time and completely hit the mark for the theme of Malaise. Their music really filled every tiny space of Yogiga and you couldn’t help but feel the music inside and out which of course compelled everyone to sway, bounce and move to the rhythm.
개토 had three large pieces that hung just to the left of the performance area and completely held their own consistently pulling eyes to them while bands played and when they didn’t. The giant surreal works offered more to see each time they were viewed with interesting lines, brush strokes and the overall oddness they exhibited.
Andrea DeJong’s pieces really necessitated a closer look. She’s “interested in finding the boundaries between figuration and abstraction” and while that brought unease and malaise to the curators of Crazy Multiply, that only fascinates the artist more. Check out the great interview CM did with DeJong at the link above.
The entire show was really impressive from the art to the music and everything in between. The ladies definitely hit the mark with this show.
To get involved, show some work or just to learn more about Crazy Multiply and to see when their next show us, check out their website and follow them on Facebook. Also, if you missed this past weekend’s show, you can still check out the art and attend an opening party with the ladies and artists on February 13th for Descending Malaise in Jongno-gu as they exhibit the works in a more formal gallery.
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