{"id":37587,"date":"2023-12-13T10:40:58","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T01:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/?post_type=insights&p=37587"},"modified":"2023-12-20T16:07:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T07:07:33","slug":"koo-bohnchangs-voyages","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/insights\/37587","title":{"rendered":"Koo Bohnchang\u2019s Voyages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Koo Bohnchang<\/p>\n

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\uad6c\ubcf8\ucc3d\uc758 \ud56d\ud574 \uc804\uc2dc \ud3ec\uc2a4\ud130<\/em><\/p>\n

Seoul Museum of Art proudly presents\u00a0Koo Bohnchang\u2019s Voyages\u00a0<\/em>(December 14, 2023\u2013March 10, 2024), a retrospective by an influential artist who represents contemporary art as well as Korean contemporary photography, Koo Bohnchang (b. 1953).<\/p>\n

Koo has played a crucial role in the foundation and development of contemporary Korean photography since the 1980s to the present. Koo stirred a sensation in the Korean photography and art world with his new concept and form of \u201cmaking photo\u201d in works presented in\u00a0The New Wave of Photography<\/em>\u00a0(Walker Hill Art Center, Seoul, May 18\u2013June 17), an exhibition he organized as a curator and showed as one of the artists.<\/p>\n

The idea of photography taking off from its traditional role of recording or documenting, to becoming an art form charged with subjective expressions that reflect attributes of various mediums like painting, sculpture and print, penetrates Koo\u2019s entire oeuvre, and opened new territories in Korean contemporary photography.<\/p>\n

Koo\u2019s retrospective begins with the section Cabinet, which consists of works and materials that have rarely been shown to the public up to now, such as some of the objects the artist has collected since his childhood as a sensitive and introverted boy until the present, as well as photographs of such objects.<\/p>\n

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\uc790\ud654\uc0c1, 1968, \uc824\ub77c\ud2f4 \uc2e4\ubc84 \ud504\ub9b0\ud2b8, 12\u00d78.5cm<\/em><\/p>\n

The section also displays photographs including his very first\u00a0Self-Portrait<\/em>\u00a0(1968) taken when the artist was in middle school, and his studies and copies of master paintings from his university years. Organized according to the chronologically changing themes of the works, the exhibition with sections The Journey of Adventure, One World, and Temple of Spirit, displays over 500 works and 600 resource materials from 43 series chosen out of a total of over 50 series of the artist\u2019s works, from\u00a0My Early Europe<\/em>\u00a0(1979\u20131985) which the artist produced as an overseas student abroad in 1979, to the recent\u00a0Incognito<\/em>\u00a0series (1996\u2013ongoing).<\/p>\n

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\ucd08\uae30 \uc720\ub7fd-\ud751\ubc31 010, 1984, \uc824\ub77c\ud2f4 \uc2e4\ubc84 \ud504\ub9b0\ud2b8, 19\u00d729cm<\/em><\/p>\n

In the Beginning<\/em>\u00a0(1991\u20132004) and\u00a0Goodbye Paradise<\/em>\u00a0(1993) left a lasting impression in the audience in the 2001 exhibition\u00a0Koo Bohnchang<\/em>\u00a0(Samsung Rodin Gallery, Seoul, May 4 \u2013June 24), and\u00a0Vessel<\/em> series (2004\u2013ongoing) introduced in his 2006 exhibition Bohnchang Koo<\/em>\u00a0(Kukje Gallery, Seoul, July 7\u201330) drew both local and global attention on Joseon White Porcelain.<\/p>\n

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\ubb34\uc81c 01, 1989, \uc544\uce74\uc774\ubc8c \ud53c\uadf8\uba3c\ud2b8 \ud504\ub9b0\ud2b8, 35\u00d735cm<\/em><\/p>\n

However, such major series are only the tip of the iceberg of Koo\u2019s deep, extensive oeuvre. This exhibition brings to the audience Koo\u2019s works in a wide variety of materials and forms, from snapshots of urban landscapes, to variations of Koo himself as the subject, abstract representations of nature, and works that delicately capture the layers of time of old objects. Of special note, the exhibition features some of Koo\u2019s series\u00a0Untitled<\/em>\u00a0(1989), which is rendered in solarization technique that demonstrates the artist\u2019s unique surrealistic sense of aesthetics, and had only been partly shown once in a group exhibition in 1989.<\/p>\n

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\ucf58\ud06c\ub9ac\ud2b8 \uad11\ud654\ubb38 01, 2010, \uc544\uce74\uc774\ubc8c \ud53c\uadf8\uba3c\ud2b8 \ud504\ub9b0\ud2b8, 100\u00d775cm<\/em><\/p>\n

The exhibition also presents the\u00a0Concrete Gwanghwamun<\/em>\u00a0series (2010) for the first time, centering on Gwanghwamun as a site of turbulent history, from the Imjin War, to the Japanese Colonial period, the Korean War, and the era of military dictatorship. With presentation of related materials and text faithful to the works, in addition to the works themselves, Koo\u2019s retrospective attempts to truly and fully reveal the artist\u2019s life-time of hard work and efforts deeply-ingrained in each of his refined photographs, and expose the true gem-like qualities of his work with the universal narratives they express.<\/p>\n

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\uc2dc\uac04\uc758 \uadf8\ub9bc 01, 1998, \uc824\ub77c\ud2f4 \uc2e4\ubc84 \ud504\ub9b0\ud2b8, 73\u00d7101.5\u339d<\/em><\/p>\n

The exhibition also introduces a detailed and systematic chronological timeline shedding light on the artist\u2019s early years, the types of art works produced by the era, the relationships between domestic and overseas influences and their impact on each other, and Koo\u2019s accounts of organizing and showing in exhibitions. The timeline provides a detailed look into the relationship between Koo and Korean contemporary photography, and how the two affected each other to develop and expand internationally. This all became possible thanks to the artist\u2019s passionate habit of collecting, preserving and cherishing works and materials from exhibitions he has organized or shown for a long time.<\/p>\n

Now, forty-five years since Koo stroke up the courage to embark on a long voyage in search of his own path, his works are in the collections of leading art institutions in Korea and across the world, and his exhibitions are being held continuously. This is the dazzling outcome of Koo\u2019s arduous but pleasant journey of searching for his work in omnidirectional ways around the world, and for persevering for years to come across his desired subjects.<\/p>\n

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\uc775\uba85\uc790 71, 2019, \uc544\uce74\uc774\ubc8c \ud53c\uadf8\uba3c\ud2b8 \ud504\ub9b0\ud2b8, 25\u00d719cm<\/em><\/p>\n

Koo has made immense contributions to the globalization of Korean photography through exhibitions in the country and abroad as both artist and curator representing Korea. He made full efforts to promote the works of his contemporaries as well as artists of generations that came before and after him without any sense of elitism, and has expanded photography as a genre of contemporary art through experimental works that were always ahead of his time. Therefore, through this profoundly significant retrospective, I hope that Koo\u2019s Voyages take us on a meditative journey to reflect on the meaning of our very own existence and life.<\/p>\n

Seoul Museum of Art
\n61, Deoksugung-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul
\nSeoul Museum of Art, Seosomun Main Branch<\/p>\n

WEB<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 INSTAGRAM<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0FACEBOOK<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0YOUTUBE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[50,52],"class_list":["post-37587","insights","type-insights","status-publish","hentry","category-insight","category-articles"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insights\/37587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insights"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/insights"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}