We had the opportunity to catch the magical non-verbal art performance – The Painters: Hero when they performed here in Singapore at Resorts World Sentosa recently. You might be familiar with Korean non-verbal acts like Cookin’ NANTA – the concept of The Painters: Hero’s is very different – while it is also non-verbal (so you need not understand a word of Korean to watch The Painters: Hero), there is no storyline for The Painters: Hero. What you can expect is for the 4 performers (painters) to present the art of painting in many surprising and creative ways.

The Painters: Hero performance is 85 minutes long with no intermission and it is a fast-paced show – which is surprising because it takes time to paint a picture. That was my initial thought before I watched the show i.e. how interesting can it be if it is just a bunch of performers painting. But I was pleasantly surprised – they have designed the show such that there is extensive usage of light show projections, dance, slapstick comedic acts to entertain the audience while the painters paint. And don’t expect the painters to stand still and paint while all these dancing and acting are going on – the painters are just as actively engaging the audience. I was often wow-ed by how these performers were able to manage their time painting and entertaining the audience at the same time.

The following picture shows a dust drawing of Bruce Lee at The Painters: Hero performance – each of the painting performance are designed in a way where it is not easy to guess what what the painters are painting if you just look at the outline they draw, though you can guess from the music and special effects and acting (i.e. all the fighting action by the other 3 performers).

Another part of The Painters: Hero performance that surprised me was the different medium in which the painters do their painting – there is the traditional brush and paint approach, dust painting (as seen above with Bruce Lee) and even light drawing (I am not sure how they do it but it is very interesting – see the picture below for what it looks like). At the Resorts World Sentosa performance, they did the Singapore Marina Bay skyline – for other countries or in Korea, it will be something different.

My favorite is the water marbling art where they go beyond the canvas to draw out a lavish festival of colors on water – you will love it too!

The following picture shows an example of light projection background with the painters hard at work – there is a nice surprise right at the end of this fast-paced speed drawing performance – enhancing what they drew by a 100 times!

There are a few audience interaction segments – what I like about their audience interaction is that they find very creative ways to engage the “volunteer” on stage – volunteer yourself for the second audience interaction activity and experience it for yourself.

No photography and videography is allowed during the performance (which is standard practice for such performances) but at the end of the performance, the painters displayed the artwork they did during the show and the audience is invited to take pictures – see the ‘Photo Time” sign in the picture below. The performers will even pose for your shots! Very interesting way to end The Painters: Hero performance!

If you are going to South Korea for your next holiday, you can catch The Painters: Hero performance at:

• Jeju – The Jeju Theater at Halla Art Hall – daily at 5pm and 8pm: VIP seats – 60,000 won; S-seats – 50,000 won; A-seats – 40,000 won (minimum age of entry: 2 years old)
• Seoul – The Seoul Theater – daily at 5pm and 8pm: Premium seats – 80,000 won; VIP seats – 60,000 won; S-seats – 50,000 won; A-seats – 40,000 won (minimum age of entry: 2 years old)

For more info, see: http://www.thepainters.co.kr/eng/contents/sub_a1.html