We at SeoullySG had the opportunity to interview the casts and producer – Mr Kyu Jeong – of The Painters:HERO. The Painters: HERO is an innovative art performance that stages the mind-blowing skills of live drawing with incredible visual effects, filled with a witty blend of mime, dance and comedy. Before you immerse yourself into this innovative art performance, read on to find out more about their behind story:
Q: It’s been a long while since the shows were conceptualised – what was the inspiration behind the shows?
A: The Painters: HERO presents a new way of enjoying art, which is showcasing the process of making art live on stage. We focus on featuring all-time favourite superheroes transcending ages and making them come alive with different art techniques as we want to help people relive their childhood dreams of becoming a hero themselves. In that way, people would also feel more attached to show as they can relate to the heroes being painted.
Most importantly, we wanted to make ‘art’ an interesting subject to approach. Our wish is for everyone who leaves the theatre to be full of joy after watching our performance and to spread that joy with those around them.
Q: What were some challenges coming up with the actual show itself?
A: As the show presents the process of making art, all of the artworks should be able to be seen through audience’s perspective. There were lots of limitation on choosing art mediums for the show, for example, liquid will flow down the canvas if the art piece is standing up.
Video projection mapping is one of the sources used during the show to cover up some limitation on canvas, but it is still a concerning issue as I don’t want to lose the analogue aspect of the show. Therefore one of the challenges was to find art mediums or techniques that audience can witness with their own eyes.
Also, actors cannot help but have their back facing the audience to draw during the show in general. However, if we put too much time in drawing, the audience will easily get bored. To solve this problem, we’ve put in elements of comedy and mime, but I would still like to think of ideas which actors can draw while facing the audience.
Q: How do they maintain their energy for each show?
A: Prior to performing on stage, all cast go through six months of rigorous and comprehensive training. The training not only teaches them acting and drawing skills, but also skills on how to manage themselves physically and emotionally. The cast are also constantly practicing even when they do not have any scheduled shows, which helps them to keep fit and keep up with the rhythm of the show.
Q: What are some unexpected challenges that were faced when bringing the show abroad?
A: The Painters: HERO can be enjoyed by everyone, beyond language, so the show contents wasn’t a challenge to bringing the show abroad. However, we have difficulties in bringing art materials themselves.
Most of props and art mediums used in our show are developed by ourselves and all of them are brought to the shows abroad. We’ve discovered and developed them based on the best condition for the show.
However, as it becomes unidentified materials when we bring them abroad, we often got stopped by airport security. If the item cannot be transported by flight, we have to go through the tough process of making it on site with similar ingredients.
Q: What are the differences between the local (Korean) and the international audience? Any memorable shows that they had overseas or in Singapore in the past?
A: We thought that Koreans have enthusiastic spirit, but after having seen international audience cheering passionately throughout the show, it was surprising for us to find out that there’s no big differences in our audiences enjoying the show.
Our first tour outside of Korea was actually held in Singapore in 2011, when we were known as the Drawing:Show HERO. Another memorable show for us was when we performed in Hollywood for an event ‘Look East 2012’ in celebration on ‘Korean Movie Night’ with Korean movie stars. It was a great experience to be able to perform at Gruman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood.
Haven’t got your tickets to The Painters: HERO? Only 3 shows! So, get your tickets to a fun filled experience with the cast of The Painters: HERO – Painter 1 (Kwon Woo Ram), Painter 2 (Hong Bo Ram), Painter 3 (So Kwang Min) and Painter 4 (Kang Shin Koo) –at Resorts World Theatre, Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore from 10-11 June 2016 now! For more information, please visit http://www.sistic.com.sg/events/hero0616.
Lastly, big thank you to Red Spade Entertainment & PressKit for making this interview possible!