MADRID (AFP) ― Avant-garde Spanish painter and sculptor Antoni Tapies has died in Barcelona at age 88, local media reported Monday.Tapies was hailed as one of the biggest names in European contemporary art for his striking abstract canvases and compositions in which he sometimes used waste material.He won many awards and was associated early on in his career with other major names in 20th-century art, including fellow Catalan Joan Miro.He had a prominent art foundation named after him in the cit

Feb. 7, 2012

HONG KONG (AFP) ― Nicolas Chow places a magnifying glass against a Ming Dynasty vase to inspect the potter’s 600-year old workmanship.Chow, the international head of Chinese ceramics and works of art at auction giant Sotheby’s, points out layers of uneven bubbles invisible to the naked eye along the early 15th century blue and white porcelain.The distinctive markings are just one tell-tale sign that experts rely on to determine if a piece is a multi-million dollar original or worthless fake.“Tha

Feb. 7, 2012

Korean literature professor leads English translation of all pansori lyricsPansori, a traditional form of narrative music performed by a solo singer, was added to UNESCO’s world heritage list nearly 10 years ago. But promoting pansori overseas has not been easy ― partly because there was no way for the foreign audience to understand the words during the performance.To facilitate better appreciation of pansori performances, Choe Tong-hyon, Korean Language and Literature professor at Kunsan Nation

Feb. 7, 2012

SEOUL (AFP) ― A group of North Korean accordion players is proving to be an unlikely hit on YouTube, attracting nearly 320,000 viewings in five days with their spirited version of a 1980s pop song.Five students of Pyongyang’s Kum Song School of Music are seen performing the mid-80s hit “Take on Me” by Norwegian group a-ha, a rare performance of popular Western music in the reclusive communist state.The performance last December was filmed by visiting Norwegian artist Morten Traavik, who posted t

Feb. 6, 2012

For all the pomp and excess of Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime extravaganza a single rude gesture by guest singer M.I.A. is likely to be the most remembered piece of the show.The gesture, accompanied by a barely disguised expletive, came during a performance of Madonna’s new single, “Give Me All Your Luvin.’’’ At the end of her lines, British singer M.I.A. appeared to sing “I don’t give a (expletive),’’ although it was hard to hear clearly. The incident was reminiscent of Janet Jackson’s infamous

Feb. 6, 2012

TOKYO ― A woman in her 20s who is not afraid ― or dares ― to wear a monstrous costume to perform in the middle of a jam-packed crossroad is sure to become famous. Or, better yet, infamous.Lee Bul, one of Korea’s most internationally recognized artists, is back in Tokyo after two decades. But this time, not to shock the spectators on the streets with her performance but to share her agony and her secrets in a large-scale exhibition at Mori Art Museum.  As the title “Lee Bul: From Me, Belongs to Y

Feb. 5, 2012

New director wants to see greater links between Korean, French cinemasThis is the first of the series introducing cultural centers of different countries in Seoul. ― Ed. Movie fans will be delighted to hear about the French Cultural Center’s latest ambitious project: to bring Cannes Film Festival to Seoul. “We are thinking about screening all of the award-winning films in Korea for a period of over a week. They have never done such a project outside of Cannes and there will be a lot of constrain

Feb. 5, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) ― Andrew Lloyd Webber’s much-awaited sequel to “The Phantom of the Opera’’ is called “Love Never Dies,’’ but the musical defied its title: after a short life in London, it died. Now he hopes it can be resurrected.Lloyd Webber has quietly helped rework the musical for a current stage production in Australia, and Americans unable to go Down Under will have a chance to see it when a filmed version hits movie theaters this month.It’s a vastly improved work, coherent and visually beauti

Feb. 5, 2012

SINGAPORE (AFP) ― Twelve-year-old Sabrina Kaur does not understand the lyrics of her favourite South Korean boy band Big Bang’s songs and, until recently, had never met Koreans in real life.But that did not stop her from joining more than a thousand other Singaporean girls at an audition in the city-state in January to discover a new pan-Asian Korean pop (K-pop) band to be promoted by a talent firm across the region.“I want to be the first Indian (Singaporean) girl to join a Korean girl group,”

Feb. 5, 2012

Theater“Seoul Note”: In memory of late actor Park Gwang-jeong, who died of lung cancer in 2008, a group of actors and actresses are staging another run of “Seoul Note,” which was the last play Park performed in before his death. A local adaptation of Japanese playwright Orija Hirata’s “Tokyo Note,” the small-scale, slow-paced play takes place in gloomy present-day Seoul, while an imaginary World War III is happening in Europe. Popular actor Kwon Hae-hyo and recent box-office hit “Unbowed” star P

Feb. 3, 2012

Love Fiction (Korea), Opening Feb. 29Comedy. Directed by Jeon Gye-soo. Thirty-one-year-old writer Joo-wol (Ha Jeong-woo) has never dated before ― the idealistic and picky man has been searching for the “perfect woman.” That perfect woman appears to be Hee-jin (Gong Hyo-jin), a successful, career-driven woman working in the film industry. He instantly falls for her the first day they meet, and desperately tries to win her heart. When he finally does, however, he begins to see Hee-jin’s hidden fla

Feb. 3, 2012

MADRID (AP) ― A “Mona Lisa’’ copy owned by Spain’s Prado Museum was almost certainly painted by one of Leonardo da Vinci’s apprentices alongside the master himself as he did the original, museum officials said Wednesday.The stunning find of what the Prado now says is probably the earliest known copy of La Gioconda will give art lovers and experts an idea of what the Mona Lisa looked like back in the 16th century, said Gabriele Finaldi, the museum’s deputy director collections.“It is as if we wer

Feb. 2, 2012