HYDE STREET ART WALL

This year, visitors will encounter a newly commissioned mural on the Lawrence and Gorretti Lui Hyde Street Art Wall by Dave Young Kim (American, b. 1979), a Los Angeles-based artist with Bay Area roots. A co-founder of the Korean American Artist Collective, Kim often uses the specific to address universal ideas of the human condition in his artwork. Fundamentally, he explains, his work speaks to the premise that “we are all looking for a place to call home.”

Kim’s Jakhodo Today depicts an uncharacteristically foolish-looking tiger sitting beneath a pine tree and being teased by a magpie. The composition’s style and subject matter draw inspiration from folk paintings of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910). Paintings of this duo were sometimes placed on the front gates or doors of houses to bring good luck, as tigers were believed to expel evil spirits and magpies represented bearers of good news. In time, the tiger also emerged as a symbol for the aristocratic yangban, while the dignified magpie represented the common people; such imagery allowed villagers to quietly rebel against the ruling class. The mural’s saekdong (colorful stripes) are a decorative element often used to adorn clothes and traditionally thought to summon good fortune; their five or seven colored stripes originated with the concept of eumyang-ohaeng, or yin and yang, and the five elements.

Kim notes that many Korean Americans may have grown up with such imagery without being privy to the symbolism behind it. “It speaks of the familiarity of gleaned tradition without having knowledge of the deeper context or ancestral culture,” says Kim; “this is the immigrant story.” n

Exhibitions

Opens Nov 17 Osher Foundation Gallery

Experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see two treasured ink paintings from Kyoto's Daitokuji Ryokoin Zen temple.

Attributed to the 13th-century Chinese monk Muqi, these works have never been shown in the U.S. and are rarely on view even in Japan, where they have been revered for centuries.

Discover the history of these beguilingly simple compositions — why they were so cherished in medieval Japan, and how they became famous in the West in the 20th century. n