Dean's retrospective at the Daelim Contemporary Art Museum is a milestone. He's about to undertake new projects and work on a stage production, and he's still an in-demand architect and industrial designer. Things could have gone so differently. This is a good a moment as any to pause and reflect.
The gallery is packed with schoolchildren and adults, with the sound of laughs, giggles, "umm"s and "aah"s tag-teaming each other from wall to wall. Dean watches as gallerygoers — who know to never cross the white line on the floor — frequently lean in too close, absorbed by his landscapes and pathways and soaring dragons.
If they stretch a little further, a little harder, they might see more of a different world, a different universe. If they could only reach out, their hands might cross from our world to something spectacular. If they plunge themselves — body and soul — into the paintings, they might enter a future designed by Roger Dean