Linguist Ashley: The Art of Dongtan

Dongtan is a beautiful city to live in. As a planned city, the layout of the streets is a work of art in itself. As I wander through these streets, which are neither perfect grids nor as chaotic as medieval cities, I keep coming across artistic treasures. I've taken pictures of most of them so you can see how fun it is to explore Dongtan.

This is one of my favorites. It looks like a child's play-dough creation blown up to be larger-than-life. You can even see the thumbprints. It's like an homage to children's art.

Dongtan's play-dough man

Not far from the Play-Dough Man is a giant sculpture of an onion. Why? I don't know. But it's pretty cool.

Linguist Ashley and the big onion.

This one is, apparently, of a colorful ball of yarn which has been used to create a vase. Or maybe it's something else. I'm not sure what it is, but it's colorful and it cheers me.

Yarn and vase

Metapolis has a number of cool sculptures. Two sculptures are of a young couple and an old couple.

Sculpture of young couple

Sculpture of old couple

The coolest thing about the two couples is that they are all four of them facing this fountain. It's like the artist is saying that young or old, anyone can enjoy this public space. Or maybe it's like you can grow old together in Dongtan. It is nice to walk by everyday.

Near the two couples is a stream. Apparently there used to be a natural stream or ditch there; as Dongtan was built, this natural feature was incorporated into the city's design. There are sculptures of little boys catching fish in this stream. Since it is winter, I don't have a very good picture. The boys just look cold in their swimming gear. I can't wait to see this sculpture in the spring.

Fishing boys

Near these sculptures at Metapolis are these two creepy faces. I don't really like this one. For one thing they have no expression, and for another they are missing pieces of their faces, like jigsaw puzzle pieces that got kicked under the couch. They remind me of sad robots.

Kinda creepy!

If you walk away from the creepy faces and follow the stream, you have to walk up some stairs. Next to the stairs are sculptures of fish swimming upstream.

The struggle to flop upstream

Frozen fish

If you keep walking and follow the stream, you'll come to Central Park's pagoda.It is painted brightly in a very Korean way.

Central Park's pagoda

This is an even more beautiful pagoda in an apartment complex. (The complex is right on the street; I'm not creeping through private property!) The roof was not cemented together and it has unpainted wood, giving it a more natural feel than Central Park's pagoda.

An even better pagoda

Different apartment complexes invest in beautiful sculptures. This sculpture has three figures dancing in a circle. The figures are stylized, massive, playful, and above all balanced. It isn't easy to make weighty bronze figures balance on one hand or foot.

Three Dancers

Of course, many of the sculptures I encounter in Dongtan are abstract, metallic, corporate sculptures that I pretty much just hate.

Nice bent paperclip.

Little metallic spheres.

But there are so many hidden art treasures that I just overlook the corporate sculptures when I can. I discovered, near the metallic spheres, public monuments to a classic Korean artist. There is a long wooded lane through which I walk to reach the post office. It has a series of stelae with reproductions of Joseon-era artworks by the great Kim Hong-Do. I love to stop and look at them and imagine what life would have been like for the Korean working class.