▲ Artist Mok-ka standing next to one of his works at Anthracite Photo by Justin Ferrell

The Anthracite Coffee cafe will be hosting artist Mok-ka’s second solo exhibition “Dream of a Tree” until Nov. 15.

Mok-ka’s style is eclectic, earthy, and aboriginal in both influence and expression. Grand rings of stone, driftwood, and vine - a meter in diameter - hang from Anthracite’s rough timber ceilings; prodigious catchers, for dreams to match.

The theme of this exhibition is to remember that what we cast away still has value. The truth of nature is that everything is in the process of being recycled. Neither created nor destroyed, energy is conservation itself.

The paintings at this show are all on found objects; canvases of floorboard, plywood, and chunks of battered timber with the nails still in them. Mok-ka’s compositions rely upon lavish colors and a variety of texturally exciting surfaces that help give each piece a unique feeling of brush stroke and saturation. His paintings draw heavily from American Indian and African tribal motifs, reinforcing the themes of nature and community that so deeply inform his work.

▲Paintings by Mok-ka Photo by Justin Ferrell

Anthracite is the perfect venue for his show. It’s a coffee shop constructed from a reclaimed factory; the bones of old machines and conveyor belts effortlessly integrated into a wide open and entirely original interior. Coarsely hewn ingots of volcanic stone with grasses and plants growing between them make up the living floor of this cafe.

Go here. It’s a long drive, but the coffee and cakes will only add to the enjoyment of this singular cafe experience punctuated with an exhibition from an equally singular artist.

Anthracite Coffee Jeju
Map
564 Hallim-ro, Hallim-eup, Jeju-do
(제주특별자치도 제주시 한림읍 한림로 564)
064-796-7991

▲ Giant dream catchers at Anthracite Photo courtesy of the Mok-ka Collection