Koo Bohnchang retrospective is a photographic exploration of time

“I have always been interested in time,” renowned photographer Koo Bohnchang said about his ongoing exhibition at the Seoul Museum of Art in central Seoul. It is “the first-ever large-scale retrospective at a municipal museum of Koo Bohnchang."

Renowned photographer Koo Bohnchang stands before his works now on view at Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) in central Seoul. [CHOI YEONG-JAE]

“I have always been interested in time,” renowned photographer Koo Bohnchang said about his ongoing exhibition at the Seoul Museum of Art in central Seoul (SeMA). It is “the first-ever large-scale retrospective at a municipal museum of Koo Bohnchang, who represents not only contemporary photography but contemporary art of Korea,” the SeMA said in a press release.

“Any subject that shows signs of the passage of time, whether it is an object or a person, has a history of its own,” Koo continued in an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the museum last month. “It is through photography that I read those histories. Just as the history of a country is made up of not only famous heroes and powerful people, but also the history of each ordinary person, I believe that the great river of history is made up of the streams of history of small things with their own personalities. It is from this perspective that I am interested in the history that is hidden in the unremarkable things.

It was from this view that Koo’s widely-celebrated “Vessel” series and other famous photography series such as “Portraits of Time” and “Gopdol” were born. They are now on view in the retrospective titled “Koo Bohnchang’s Voyages.”

The “Vessel” series (2004-now) captures white porcelains from Korea’s Joseon period (1392-1910), now scattered in museums around the world. They look very different from the photos of the same objects in museum catalogs. The jars, bottles or bowls in the series, which are nearly free of gloss and shadows under delicate lighting, have less materiality and more spirituality. Slightly blurry, each photo gives the impression of a calm, meditative painting, but subtle cracks and stains on the white porcelain are easy to spot. The “Gopdol” series (2006-2010), which captures old black stone vessels of Korea, also has a similar spiritual atmosphere.

The installation of ″Moon Rising″ series by Koo Bohnchang now on view at Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) in central Seoul. [SEMA]

Koo’s “Portrait of Time” series (1998-2001), at first glance, appears to be a desolate seascape reminiscent of the 19th century German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich's painting “The Monk by the Sea.” Actually, the photo series captures a dusty wall of an old temple in Kyoto, Japan, which shows the vestiges of the passage of time. As they appear to be an ocean horizon and sky, the series reinforces the poignant question of the passage of time and eternity.

Not every work is calm and meditative in this retrospective, which displays over 500 pieces from 43 photography series by Koo in chronological order. The exhibition overlaps the history of Koo's personal oeuvre with the larger historical context that helped shape his work.

It includes the “In the Beginning” series (1991–2004) and the “Goodbye Paradise” series (1993), which are his early successes. For “In the Beginning,” he stitched together multiple sheets of photo paper in a partly three-dimensional manner and printed photographs of dancers' bodies on top of them. “For Goodbye Paradise” series, he made photograms of animals, birds, fish, butterflies and dragonflies taken from old zoological illustrations, making them blue to show their spirituality and adding red dots that symbolize each life’s fatal wound.

The ″Goodbye Paradise″ series by Koo Bohnchang now on view at Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) in central Seoul [SEMA]

“From the early stage, Koo showed the idea that photography is not only the medium for recording or documenting but also an art form full of expressions that reflect attributes of various other mediums like painting and sculpture,” the museum said in a leaflet. “The idea penetrates Koo’s entire oeuvre, and opened new territories in Korean contemporary photography.” The museum added that he first showed the new concept of “making photo” in the 1988 exhibition “The New Wave of Photography” which he organized as a curator and showed as one of the artists.

The retrospective also includes the “My Early Europe” series (1979 –1985), which the artist produced as a student in Germany and “A Perspective on 1980s” (1985-1990), a street photography series he took after returning to Seoul. The latter captures the chaotic, kitschy, and energetic nature of Seoul in the 1980s, a tumultuous decade that saw the democratization and the 1988 Seoul Olympics. They might seem to be the most disconnected from his serene and meditative later works. However, some of even his early street photos have the point consistent throughout his oeuvre – his interest in the things that are insignificant but have their own history and strange beauty.

The Korea JoongAng Daily sat with the artist on Dec. 19. Here are the excerpts from the questions and answers.

Q. I heard many viewers say they love the “Gold” series, one of your latest series. But you've mostly photographed humble objects with the marks of time on them, so the “Gold” series that captures precious artifacts made of gold is the most alien of the objects you've photographed so far, isn't it? A. Yes, but because they're all grave goods, they relate to a theme I've been exploring: the passage of time and the traces of what's gone. The objects were coveted and given to powerful leaders but the time that they were actually used was short. As for the golden hand of a mummy from the Gold Museum of Peru (which is in the photo series), I don't think the mummy ever wore it in his lifetime. As for the Gold Crown from the Cheonmachong tomb (from the 5th or 6th century Korea), there's a lot of debate about whether it was actually worn by a king or queen or just a burial accessory. Even if the owner wore it in their lifetime, it must have been just for rituals – not for everyday. So I wanted to capture something that we humans get excited about and want to hold in our hands, but is ultimately vain. I wanted to capture that fleetingness behind the glamor and what is swallowed up by time.

″Concrete Gwanghwamun″ series(2010) by Koo Bohnchang now on view at Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) in central Seoul [SEMA]

Q The “Concrete Gwanghwamun” series (2010), which is being shown to the public for the first time through this exhibition, seems to show very calmly and subtly your feelings about the complicated and ironic history of Gwanghwamun, the main gate of the Gyeongbok Palace. (The gate was partly destroyed by bombing during the Korean War(1950-53). The gate was restored in 1967, but the reinforced concrete was used for the architectural components that originally were made of wood, due to time and cost issues. Then, in 2006, the concrete components were dismantled to replace them with wooden ones. Koo photographed six of these components.) A. When I came across the dismantled concrete components, their appearances were so ironic. They were cut up, making a stark contrast between the parts painted with dancheong (traditional Korean coloring for wooden structures) and disguised as wood and the parts that reveal to be concrete. In addition, the components were erected with iron rods as if they were some kind of sculpture. In a way, their appearance connects to the chaotic, hybrid, ironic landscape of Korea that I encountered when I came back from studying abroad in the 1980s. The history of Gwanghwamun is also so ironic. But instead of capturing them with dramatic shadows, I purposely picked a cloudy day and shot them in soft light. So when you look at the series, you won't know where the light source is.

Q. Then why have you shot with such soft lighting since 2000? Is it because you want to be lyrical or because you feel that if the contrast is too dramatic, the essence of the subject is lost? A. I think it is the basic flow of a lot of my photography to have the subject stand back and let the viewer see what's there, rather than having them come up to you in a very powerful way and talk to you. The very early works, the ones that I shot with color, I shot with the intention of showing the reality of Korea in a very strong way. But after two or three decades, I think I'm finally getting to my true nature.

BY MOON SO-YOUNG [moon.soyoung@joongang.co.kr]