The Painters: HERO are more than just mere painters

With a simple backdrop and hardly any props on stage, the confusion was clearly registered and palpable in the air as the audience filled up the Resorts World Theatre during the first night of the show on June 10.

The Painters: HERO, a highly-anticipated art performance from Korea, left the audience curiously waiting for the start of the performance even before the Korean acts came on stage.

Instead of jumping straight into the show, The Chaplin Team from The Painters: HERO took their time to get to know the audience, while gently charming their way into our hearts.

The first segment of The Painters: HERO, which that combines live effects and different art mediums, took over everyone by surprise. What looked like four different pieces of abstract art pieces – that did not resemble anything – each turned out to be a quarter of a huge portrait of Michael Jackson. This led to one of the painters breaking out in Michael Jackson’s famous moonwalk.

The painters also invited some guests to share their stage and be part of their funny games. The rest of the audience who weren’t invited on stage were not left out, though. The cast kept them busy with interactive games and cheers.

These artists were not only good at art. Their skillful dances and funny acts in between the painting segments kept us entertained throughout the 80-minute show. The audience was brought through a captivating display of the painters’ talents through different mediums, such as the typical paintbrush, Rubik’s cubes, and even water.

The performance also presented at least five different art forms revealing different heroes, like Superman and Bruce Lee, that are familiar to the audience. My only complaint? One of the artworks, a painting of three Chinese warriors on horses, left the audience puzzled, gathering a less enthusiastic response.

During our short interview with the cast of The Painters: HERO, we were surprised to find that none of the performers had any artistic background prior to the show.

The variety of the cast members’ personalities also provided a dose of flavour to the already entertaining performance. Each painter had their own distinct personality that shone throughout the show, leaving the audience impressed with their ability to meld their differences into an artistic cacophony.

Speaking through a translator, Woo Ram Kwon, also known as Bruce Lee, told Youth.SG: “Each of us have different characteristics and performance styles. We inspire one another to put up a better performance.”

The Painters also attribute their inspiration and success to their supportive fans. They shared that the encouragement they receive from their fans drives them to put up a good show.