Living Room in HBC presents 8 artists, 5 DJs

Casey Tosh poses with two of his paintings. / Courtesy of Il Padrino Records

By Jon Dunbar

Eight visual artists and five DJs from around the world are about to bodyslam their way into Living Room, a basement bar in central Seoul's Haebangchon neighborhood, for a new art exhibition starting this Saturday and running until June 24.

Titled "Swanton Bomb" after a maneuver by pro wrestler Jeff Hardy, the exhibition was organized starting from thoughts about growing up in the 1990s.

But event curator Casey Tosh, a pure modern painter and neo-expressionist from Australia, points out that "Bomb" also conjures up the Korean word for spring. "The loose theme is a spring explosion of color and creative clashing together into a transformative experience like the caterpillar evolving into a vibrant butterfly," he told The Korea Times.

A poster for the "Swanton Bomb" art exhibition, which holds its opening party this Saturday with five DJs / Courtesy of Casey Tosh

It must have been quite a wild creative process that took him from pro wrestling to butterflies, but this event also came together organically based around the local community, Tosh pointed out.

"A lot of the people I'm working with in this show are from direct interactions at art galleries or venues and seeing their work or bumping into them in the streets between Social Haven and Phillies and Macaroni (a funk club near Hapjeong Station)," he explained. "Recent conversations about redevelopment in the area around Haebangchon and Noksapyeong made me think it was a good time to do this in spring and to bring people out together with some new artwork before any more development in the neighborhood occurs."

The art on display includes scribbled lines, sketches and paintings as well as street photography.

The visual and sound artists participating in Swanton Bomb come from Belgium, the U.K., the U.S., Korea, the Netherlands and Australia, and some even refused to reveal where they're from, requesting anonymity.

One of these is DJ Utility Vest, a jungle techno and intelligent jazz DJ who performs wearing a paper Korean mask and a utility vest.

DJ Utility Vest / Courtesy of Il Padrino Records

"A few years ago while walking around?Dongmyo flea market searching for some old cassette tapes that I could sample from, I noticed how many of the?older men in Korea wear a?utility vest ― almost like it's a badge of honor," the DJ told The Korea Times. "While utility vests are somewhat popular now amongst younger generations... it seemed like it was only reserved?for people of a certain caliber in Korea, the?older men."

He came up with the DJ name while putting together the 2020 album "Seonmudo," which fuses old school jungle breakbeats with traditional Korean music and trot. "I thought about who actually listens to Korean traditional music and trot, and the only group of people that came to mind were those guys," he said. "The vest is somewhat of an homage to them."?

It was also on one of his monthly visits to Dongmyo Flea Market that he was inspired to incorporate traditional Korean masks into his act, after finding a wide selection of white paper masks. This led him to create his second album, "Bongsan Talchum," also released in 2020, which digs deeper into the heritage of the nation, including samples from various media including a documentary about Bongsan mask dance.

"Before I made the 'Bongsan Talchum' album, I did my homework and researched?Bongsan mask dance, what it represents, the masks and what the acts are," he said. "I believe that the seven songs I made for the album closely follow the feeling and mood of the seven acts of the drama."

A year later, he released his third album "Seoul, A Leisurely Night," this time diving deeper into his favorite parts of the city.

"While watching a documentary about Seoul and its nightlife, I got the idea to make the album about the city that I have explored and love so much," he said.?"Before I made the album, I wrote out a list of places where I have basically partied the most. I wanted the listener to feel like they were ready to go on a journey and explore one of those areas."

The album starts off with a track exploring Seoul Station, a common starting point for a lot of people when they arrive in Seoul before moving on to a different area. Of course it also covers Dongmyo, before moving on to Itaewon with a chilled vibe and Hongdae which is more of a club banger.

DJ Utility Vest poses at Jongno 3ga Station in downtown Seoul. / Courtesy of Josh Bamford

"If the listener understands Korean, they might be able to get a better sense of how I view each of the different areas in Seoul by listening to the sound clips and samples in each of the songs," he said. "Seoul is a city I hold dearly in my heart. Seoul has seen me at my best and my worst."

DJ Utility Vest will do a set at the opening event that starts this Saturday at 8 p.m. Also joining him will be DJ Jisoo (house techno), DJ Salva2 (original beats and house/hip-hop), DJ Hexton (electronic house and techno) and Psoman (African Brazilian electronic and jungle).