Fifty One Fine Art Photography
Pseudonym. Photographing people involves an exchange of souls.The artist puts portraiture in a new position. The core of his intriguing method portraiture lies in the prolonged exposure time. Often the exposition time lasts the subject's age in minutes, but it can also go up to several hours. The effect of this method is that the subjects being photographed become blurred figures, nonetheless with a certain expressiveness.
Pseudonym
Fifty One Fine Art Photography is proud to present its first exhibition
of the young Korean photographer Kyungwoo Chun.
Chun puts portraiture in a new position. The core of Chun's intriguing
method portraiture lies in the prolonged exposure time. Often the
exposition time lasts the subject's age in minutes, but it can also go
up to several hours. The effect of this method is that the subjects
being photographed become blurred figures, nonetheless with a certain
expressiveness.
What fascinates the photographer most is that this kind of portrait
photography requires the people involved to spend a long time in the
same room together. This technique injects the image with a lot of
energy and empathy.
Photographing people involves, I a way, according to Chun, an exchange
of souls. What is essential to the creation is how the individual uses
time during the exposure. The photographer repeatedly enters into
dialogue with his subjects. As the model has an active role to play,
movements and minor changes of position on the chair are all explicitly
allowed. The energy that this creates resonates in the result. Long
exposition time not only influences the intensification and sublimation
of relations between the photographer and his model. It also directly
influences the form and content of the images.
Because of the empathy between the Chun and his models every portrait
becomes a self-portrait. You could say that all the people in his work
are a Pseudonym of the photographer. Whereas Pseudonym generally
reflects his work, it is also the title of one of his series.
In this specific series it is not the merging of the other and self, but
the relationship between pairs of people that is the main focus of
interest. They show couples standing opposite each other in the front
and rear view pose. Each person's right hand is resting on the other's
shoulder and their left hands clasped together. Here the idea is that
the person in front of you is an alter ego. There is a dialogue taking
place not so much between the photographer and his subjects but rather
between the subjects themselves. During the long exposure time the
participants automatically enter in a state of physical dependence on
each other. The tired arms come to lean more and more on the other's
shoulder. These images question the extent in which we support each
other or are a burden to each other in a relationship.
The other series on display is called light calligraphy. The technique
of these portraits is also that of a long exposure time but while posing
the subjects could write with a light pen their own text in the empty
air. Doing calligraphy is a way of meditating or concentrating. The
complexity of time and feeling involved in this concept needs you to
rely on your imagination to try to see what you wrote.
Kyungwoo Chun was born in Seoul, South Korea. He graduated from
Chung-Ang University's School of Fine Arts in Seoul. He works in Germany
and Seoul. Hatje Cantz recently published his monograph.
Opening: Juanary 26
Fifty One Fine Art Photography
Zirkstraat 20 - Antwerpen Belgio