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| LA-based "deconstructive pop artist" Matt Gondek is among over 450 creators active in the urban, street and pop art scene, who have been invited to this year's Urban Break, known as Asia's largest contemporary urban and street art fair. Courtesy of Urban Break Committee |
2022 edition to be held through Sunday
By Park Han-sol
The third edition of Urban Break, which has made its name known as Asia's largest contemporary urban and street art fair, is expected to be more bustling than ever.
The four-day fair kicked off Thursday at Coex in southern Seoul under the theme of "Green, Equity, Digital."
It aims to target a growing number of millennial art collectors and enthusiasts by bringing to the fore the genres and forms that occupy a prominent section in mainstream culture and yet have not been properly highlighted as an art form, especially in the traditional world of fine arts.
Following the success of last year's event, which drew over 40,000 visitors, Urban Break 2022 has turned its focus to graffiti, webtoon, tattoo and art toys through a series of special exhibitions, artist talks and live performances.
In the gallery booths, more than 3,000 paintings and murals by 450 creators, who are active in the current urban and street art scene here and abroad, are on view.
The featured artists include Banksy; D*Face, a master of graffiti satirizing popular cultural iconography; Roby Dwi Antono, who brings together imagery of Surrealism and Classical Renaissance; Okuda San Miguel, best known for his rainbow-colored geometric world featuring humans, animals and religious icons; and Invader, recognized for mosaics with patterns inspired by classic, pixelated video games.
Matt Gondek holds his solo show to unveil his latest work, "Heart in a Cage." The LA-based pop artist introduces popular comics characters such as Mickey Mouse, the Simpson Family and Hello Kitty on his canvas, only to then deconstruct them into dynamic pieces ― quite literally.
Another eye-catching solo exhibition invites 10-year-old artist Nicholas Blake. At his first show in Korea, Blake showcases some 20 paintings of creatures from both wilderness and myths reimagined in brisk strokes of color.
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| Ten-year-old artist Nicholas Blake will hold his first solo show in Korea at the Urban Break 2022 at COEX from Thursday to Sunday. Courtesy of Urban Break Committee |
In addition to urban and street paintings, other elements of popular culture have been brought to light at the fair.
Five webtoon artists behind works like "Our Beloved Summer," "All of Us Are Dead," "Tomorrow," "Natural Born Idiots" and "Fashion King" will greet visitors with digital prints and art toys inspired by their webcomics.
One exhibition will be dedicated to tattoo artists, including Polyc, who has recently done a cover-up tattoo for BTS' Jungkook, and LIFO, who is known for adding a contemporary touch to traditional Korean "minhwa" (folk art) and artifacts.
It wouldn't be an urban art fair without live performances and events.
Jiya da Chorona, who has been conjuring up chalk paintings on environmental, cultural and social issues in the streets of cities across the world, will take part in a live drawing performance from Friday to Saturday.
Throughout the four-day event, Urbanstrikers will lead its interactive project, "Proto-type." All clad in black, its crew members will travel to every nook and cranny of the venue to blend installation art and live performance.
Artist talks will feature Gondek, San Miguel and Lonac, who have come to Korea for the event.
Last but not least, like its last edition, Urban Break 2022 will continue to examine the unexplored potential value of the digital asset through non-fungible token (NFT) collection.
The collection will appear both in the 11-meter-wide media wall installed at the venue's entrance and in the largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea.
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