2009.2.11
Belief in true love is the theme of the latest exhibition by Koh Sang Woo, an up-and-coming artist renowned for experimentation with photo negatives.
The New-York based artist has titled his third solo show "I know someone who believes Love comes before money and status."
"Beauty is just skin deep, plastic beauty is only a surface change ... Money is only a statement, money is not timeless," Koh wrote in a poem while preparing for this exhibition.
To visualize his beliefs, the 31-year-old artist has resorted back to his particular style of "reversing" photographs and ideas that has grabbed the attention of critics in the United States and Korea.
For the exhibition, Koh used negatives, which reverse colors. He also used only amateur models that were wide and short, instead of more customary slim and tall women.
It took hours for Koh to get a satisfying shot. He glued flowers and paper hearts on the models and painted over them. The camera was always still, set to autofocus, so Koh had to change the colors of his subjects by repeatedly repainting them until just the right color came out. By the time he was almost finished, he knew by heart how each color changes on negative film.
 |
Because this complex procedure was more than just pressing on the shutter button, Koh refuses to be called a photographer. "I am an artist," he said at a press conference on Friday.
Reborn in the hands of the artist, the finished photos look a lot different than the real subjects.
"The women in the finished works are not who they used to be. They are totally different beings, existing regardless of sex, age, race, or any bias or standards," said Koh.
One of the two couples who modeled for Koh's recent series are a current TV announcer and her poet husband, who wed in 2006. Her marriage was a surprise at the time because famed female TV broadcasters often marry wealthy men. Her special love story inspired Koh.
"I am planning to hold the exhibition in many countries, and I want to show the world that this kind of pure love story exists in Korea," Koh said.
Koh was born in Seoul but moved to the United States in 1994. He graduated from School of Art Institute of Chicago. A chance mistake with his photos led him to explore the "transformative images" of photo negatives. His struggle to adapt to American society was a main theme in his earlier exhibitions.
The exhibition runs through Feb. 28 at Gallery SUN contemporary in central Seoul. For more information, call (02) 720-5789 or visit www.suncontemporary.com
By Park Min-young
(claire@heraldm.com)
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기