#BG06,2007 archival inkjet print 50×50㎝, edition of 7 100×100㎝, edition of 5
The photographs of Choi Byungkwan place bamboos and water in a rectangle frame. Vertical bamboos and horizontal water are silently coagulated in square-shaped frames. Vertical lines created by the bamboo trees are lined up along the edges of the screen, separating spaces at an interval. The slightly thick and dark body of the bamboo trees set against a dazzling bright background swings slightly while creating attractive outlines. The delicate black and white tones are shattered by the backlight.
Lines of unequal sizes which are generating differences form various formative lines and spaces inside a flat square-shaped plane. (This is the same with black and white tones). That creates spaces and widens empty gaps. They resemble bamboo paintings in ink. At a glimpse, it is difficult to tell whether they are photographs or ink paintings. The leaves of the bamboo trees are scattered by the wind or leaves accidental traces and signs with minute movements. They are unforeseen, unintentional accidents. Fixed subjects were captured, but factors such as the flow of time, wind, and the resulting movements of the bamboo trees lead to unintended photographs. Photographs cannot be captured by the law of integrity, the frame of reproduction, but can only continue to drift away. They are reproductions of bamboo trees that can never be repeated.
#WC04,2006 archival inkjet print 70×70㎝, edition of 7 100×100㎝, edition of 5
In the meantime, photographs of water (surface of water) which totally covered the square-shaped screen display a strict horizontal line created by the relationship of equivalence between the screen and the surface of water. Therefore, only the vast surface of water is stretched out on the depthless screen. The surface of water/surface which has lost its depth is painted in a single monotonous color. However, that color is something which cannot be described using texts; it is a color that slips out of the language system, a color that constantly changes. Therefore, the same, fixed surface simply cannot exist.
Certainly, the surface may be calm but minute movements can be detected with cautious eyes. At a glance, the photographs may seem like a big empty screen, a color abstraction wet in a single color, but when looked at closely, slightly different colors, bubbles and circular lines are rippling out. The artist gazed into the surface for a long time and discovered something like sensitive wounds created by unexpected movements of the surface of water. The moment in which the state of stillness and motionlessness broke into pieces was caught. Then, the surface of water creates different concentric circles each time, drawing mesmerizing lines. Creation. The line is between existence and non-existence. Lines that are impossible to draw with human hands, that are created accidentally in a moment by, and only by nature keep on appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye. Photography freezes those disappearing moments. As such, as if lamenting over the frailty of the disappearing moments, photography desperately records the state of the surface of water. That proves the usefulness of photographs as well as bestows legitimacy on such records and reproductions.
The subject the artist chose is a fixed object, nature, and at the same time, things that flutter in minute movements. Time and wind are stroking the bamboo trees and the surface of water. Bamboo trees and the surface of water respond by shaking their bodies, by creating wrinkles on the surface and forming ripples. They describe their status in some kind of hieroglyphic texts. Responses of nature that can never be written or deciphered are repeated in vain. The artist shot the responses of the bamboo trees and the surface of water created by such lines. only with delicate and persistent observation can those small movements and changes they form be captured. At a glance, they are such things that can be easily overlooked and can only be noticed when one holds one’s breath and stares at them calmly, slowly and for a long time. That is possible only when one aligns one’s breath and pace with the rhythm of nature. It is impossible if nature and one’s body is not united as one.
▲Park Youngtaek (Professor at Kyonggi University, art critic)
◇photographer CHOI BYUNG KWAN
▲Education=▷1990 Dept of Arts plastiques, ParisⅧ University, France/Diplome:M.A ▷1988 Dept of Arts plastiques, ParisⅧ University, France/Diplome:B.A ▷1981 Dept of Photography, Chung-Ang University, Seoul/Degree:B.A ▲Solo Exhibitions 15times=Gallery LuX(Seoul), Soho Photo Gallery(New York), Kumho Museum of Art(Seoul), Keum San Gallery(Seoul), Anne Rouff Gallery(Paris) ect. ▲Present=Professor, Sangmyung University, Korea
△권동철 미술칼럼니스트, 이코노믹리뷰 2016년 9월 2일