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Email PageVessel
October 12, 2006- November 18, 2006
Reception: October 14, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Bohnchang Koo
Hasted Hunt
529 W 20th St Bohnchang Koo Vessel (2005) |  Bohnchang Koo Vessel (2005) |  Bohnchang Koo Vessel (2005) |
Bohnchang Koo is one of the best-known contemporary photographers in South Korea. The Hasted Hunt show follows two other major international solo shows at the Kyoto Museum of Contemporary Art in Japan and the Kukje Gallery in Korea.
"Vessel" is Bohnchang Koo’s first body of photographs in color. "Vessel" consists of still-lifes of classic white porcelains from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). These spare, delicate vessels are a unique part of Korean cultural history, precious objects which have been collected in major Asian museums (and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art). The artist began documenting these in 2004.
Each of these unique handmade objects is presented against a seamless background, often with a horizon line. The white ceramic surface is bathed in a soft, flesh toned light. The color lightly references the vessels as human souls. The individual pieces are undecorated and have simple shapes like bowls, pots, or cylinders reflecting their use as tableware or as ceremonial and funereal pieces.
I tried to retain that perspective in which the vase is more than a precious antique object but rather a soul-embodying vessel, with unlimited capacity to embrace the heart of its viewer and its potter. In photographing the white porcelain series I approached each pot in the museum display and in the archival collection cautiously, as if to discretely unveil a demure model in portraiture. –Bohnchang Koo
The Joseon Dynasty was a period significant to the development of porcelain, particularly around 1460 after the establishment of the official government controlled factory. The vessels were initially used for a variety of functions, ranging from epitaph tables, tomb furnishings, rituals and reliquaries to routine tableware. Over the centuries, the tradition of Korean porcelain making was co-opted by the Chinese and Japanese. With the "Vessel" series and his photographs of indigenous masked folk dancers, Koo has been trying to reclaim some of his country's patrimony.
Koo works in pursuit of essence and restraint. He is known for his earlier minimal and refined black and white photographs, series like White, Ocean, and Rain. In the US he has had solo shows in New York City, Philadelphia, Santa Fe and Los Angeles as well as the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA) and the Museum of Photographic Art (San Diego, CA). As a teacher, mentor and curator ("Contemporary Korean Photographers" Houston Fotofest 2000), he has revolutionized Korean photography by introducing European modernism and contemporary conceptual thinking to a visual culture locked in mid-20th Century humanism.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
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