Heroic Sculpture At The War Memorial of Korea

Realist sculptures are great. Bigger than life, maybe on a pedestal, gesticulating at something. At the War Memorial of Korea there are a few sculptures showing Big Men doing Heroic Things. Just look at the lunging, the flexing, the hugging. Yes, they hug.

Here's the Statue of Brothers. Love in time of battle.

Quick loading a gun while getting your lunges in. Double win! Yelling or about to catch a raisinet.

Serious footwear, boots and spats.

Keeping a brother away from the chow line that's serving bad fish. Sizing up the enemy. Or watching a boring tennis match. 

Lunging for a Mardi Gras throw.

Land Architecture Land Urbanism In Seoul

There was a nice exhibition in a park in Seoul recently, a sort of sculpture, experience, environmental, kitchen sink thing of combining imaginative landscaping with cool sculptures. Go with it.

Setting up. Flowers go with everything.

Cool orbs and out of the box structures. The future is now and it's funky. And fun.

Looking a bit like those missile frozen pops. Definitely cool.

Big sculpture that made interesting sounds, made by a university from Italy. Big steel triangle. Pointy. 

Vine dome. A growing phenomenon.

Tawau, Sculpture City

Every town needs a gimmick these days, in this Instagram-drenched world. It's doubtful Tawau will suddenly become a hip mecca for self snaps anytime soon. No matter, civic pride is on display with a handful of fun sculptures scattered around the downtown.

Tawau is located on the coast and fishing is big industry. Bring on the seafood sculptures. First up, Mr. Crab in a roundabout.

What's up fish? Moving on land, a big flower for a flower bed.

Uh oh, it's time for a little WWE between species.

Back to the seafood theme, shellfish edition. Lobster and prawn.

Er, um, a fish out of water.

Fun Sculpture On Cijin Island

Cijin Island has a nice, meandering beachside series of parks, punctuated with a handful of fun sculptures. They are Instagram aware.

First up, a reflecting pool with a rainbow cube and a pink metal church.

See the cross in the back? A Crayola box come to life.

Next, giant mosaic hearing aids against the water.

More fun with small tiles, stranded fish. Big, gold shell.

Getting an abstract view of the shell from its backside.

The Pier 2 Art Center In Kaohsiung

The classic urban renewal. Start with a bunch of abandoned dockside warehouses, move in some enterprising artists, get the government to jump start investment and renewal and, presto! - a new arts district and cultural hub.

Kaohsiung in Taiwan has a nice area developing, plenty of good spaces, nice location, hipness sniffing around. The renewal program started in 2006 and improvements and expansion are ongoing.

The big welcome sign on the side of one of the warehouses.

One of the mascots. Iconic sculpture for the port area, re-made shipping containers.

The area is still part of a working port, a nice mix of heavy industry and the arts community.

One of the main sculptures in the district, a snarling animal dragon thing. Maybe you'd snarl, too, if you had a unit like his?

Transformer monster. All sorts of fun sculptures dot the area.

More art,  an old, wood chair installation and blue horse head.

Perched to enjoy the scene.

The Sculpture Section Of Mandalay

There's a neighborhood in Mandalay that's overrun with little sculpture factories, basic storefront establishments that spew dust all over the place. Get carving.

Typical spread, sculptures everywhere, a pile of chips growing.

Not a vocation for the neat freak. Hard work, no pun intended (OK, a little?). The finished product, all lined up and shined up.

Polisher portrait.

Supply does not seem to be a problem, each factory storing work wherever it can.

In another part of town, military sculpture as propaganda taking shape.

Covered Sculpture

"Better wrap it, I want my sculpture to go." Seems to be quite the mantra around Mandalay, sculpture after sculpture, figure after figure, sealed in cellophane, plastered in plastic.

A typical roadside religious stall. Don't forget some stupa on the side.

Wrap with what you have.

Some logic in the practice, all that carving, chipping would be a disaster.

The sealing brings a surreal quality to the figures, their own veiled beauty.

Or is it suffocating?