Sitting Buddha and shopper

Mannequins on Khoa San Road outnumber locals not hawking food or cloth. Plastic heads are draped in cornrows and beaded braids. Stare at the infantry of tailored headless gents prepped in a three-piece suit every eight steps down the street.

The plastic are even tattooed, an ad for the wet needles ready to commemorate every visit. We walk through the sea of mannequins, buying t-shirts and fingering endless Buddha statues.

Stop at a topless photo of Kate Moss. Wait around for the two teenage Thai storekeepers to bargain a price down. When they won’t budge, pull out a book, sit on nearest stool and wait. Eventually they see you won’t leave, and sell the t-shirt: Three hundred Baht.
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Jeff Koons loves Shinsegae

I was already on the subway home when I saw the bag. Jeff Koons Loves Shinsegae, it said. At the bus stop I followed the flow of bags into the department store. Everywhere inside were shiny balloons reading JEFF and mannequined t-shirts and posters of his sculpture Sacred Heart.

There was no artist collaboration section or anything on sale to be seen. All the information desk could tell me was that something was happenig at a Shinsegae across town. On a pay-per minute PC back at the station I learned I'd missed an artist-in-attendance by only hours.

The Shinsegae website shows cups, necklaces, and t-shirts celebrating Sacred Heart for sale. Turns out Shinsegae is excited about its own purchase. The company recently bought Sacred Heart, which I saw ontop the MET, to perch on its Myeongdong store.

On the web I found the reason for the love affair. The purchase price of Sacred Heart, before any endorsement deal: 30 billion won (25 mil) hard cash. So who says money can't buy love?