Dave Young Kim: 2011

In an attempt to redeem the disappointing Torrance Art Museum visit took a trip to Chinatown L.A> art fix> to find that art had abandoned the place. Hadn't been there since I was a kid.

All the galleries are gone, only tons of empty store fronts. I could only image how dope it was in its hay day, contemporary art juxtaposed against all the original chinese signage, architecture & history.

Deserted:

But we did find a hold out, this shop called the Flock Shop, got our art fix there:

Chinese Mob secret headquarters:

"Mafia Members Only" is what they really mean:

I could feel the ghosts in this old jazz club, where we drowned our sorrows with grape juice & 7up:

Later that night we went to Universal City Walk. A change of scenery after being in C-town, from the desolate to completely packed tourist trap. But they have a Pinks there so we went for the famous dogs. Quick story from the last time I was there: I think there were like 20 of us, this was back in high school. We stood out, obvious members of a gang. Security rounded us up and sat us down on a curb and systematically photographed and questioned each of us. "Are you guys KP?" "No, man, Jefrox." "What do you do?" "You know regular gang stuff; hit up the hood, gang bang, kick it." I was pretty dumb. The funny thing was all these tourists were taking pictures of us as if we were props in this fake Hollywood world. They came to L.A. to experience the movies it was famous for and got to see the gangs it was infamous for. And then this army of security personnel escorted us to my moms Ford Aerostar, watched us illegally pack it in like clowns (20 dudes in a minivan) and waited until we drove off.

The next Torry:

New Years Eve went to Thomas and Susans for some lunch:

Then later to Vin and Graces for dinner:

Vin sitting in front of a portrait he dad of his dad (the NY bus driver) - that's Vin 20 years from now:

Then to Korea town for Dessert:

I've been on this crazy journey.
I'll call it The-Journey-of-Getting-Apps .. I mean, (I've come to realize in this age of tech "apps" no longer mean the flimsy forms once used by schools to collect information about prospectives) Applications-Done-In-Order-To-Get-Into-A-Graduate-Program, more specifically a Masters in Fine Art or MFA as it's commonly known in the States. This along with the adjustment needed from taking time off work for 3 months: which started with a wedding in Charleston, South Carolina (decided I would never live there..I was honestly open though), a solo 3 week road trip through the SouthWest, destination: Christ in the Desert Monastery just outside of Abiquiu, NM (which I'll post about later); 2 trips to visit family in South Cali, 20 days straight of studio painting (resulting in a 14 painting portfolio), after which I gave myself one full day to study for the GRE before taking it the next day, then days and days and days of filling out applications (currently have 3 left....if I don't change my mind).

And a word about the 4 hour GRE. It was hard but the kind where you know you can do well if you actually spent time to study how to slip past the traps they set out to get you (don't be like me and give yourself one day.). I'd even rename it Trap test, cuz that's really a better indicator of what it is and then they throw in an un-scored section just for the hell of it, who does that? So I did well on the Verbal Reasoning section (not surprising) but bombed the Quantitative Reasoning section (not surprising) and for the Analytical Writing, let's just say I did worst than half of all test takers (surprising). I doesn't matter because only one of the schools requires it and officially (I'm assuming it's official because it was on the site) states the scores won't affect my admission.

The montage.. the Studio, Chinatown SF, Unsilent Night, Winter Solstice at Muir Woods, Smuggler's Cove, Davis...

Look at chubs. I am fat but I also have on layers because it'so damn cold in the studio: 4 on top; 3 on bottom, if you count boxers and 2 pairs of socks. See what happens when you don't work out for 3 months and eat out all the time:

Before

After

It's all good. I just got a membership for Krav Maga, vicious Israeli Martial Art (I don't think it's even called an 'art', it's purely 'destroy your opponent') = intense workout + learn to kick ass. Located Here:

Last meal the night I finished my final painting for the portfolio. See this is what I'm taking about, greasy food takes away the pain of loneliness and the cold. (see 2 pics down from top, 1 to the right)

After taking my GRE trekked out to China Town SF to find the strangest thing: this Bansky piece covered with a piece of plexi. Only in China Town. As I was wandering, I turned a corner nearly walking into a man, I soon as I stepped back enough to focus I immediately recognized him, he was The Barber, the barber who played the violin in Chinatown, whom I painted based on an image I saw in a magazine 3 years ago. He wasn't in his barber super suit but I verified by seeing a violin case on the cart he was dragging.

What you mean the puppets aren't real!

Probably the best portrait of me ever.

My old pad at Davis. Threw so many crazy parties. One time an officer showed up to tell us to break it up so being the host I tried to reason with him using drunken logic. I was so awesome, so awesome that I got a $80 ticket. Awesomeness comes at a price.