CHUNG HEESEUNG & JE BAAK
This catalogue is published by HADA Contemporary to accompany the exhibition:
CHUNG HEESEUNG & JE BAAK GROUP EXHIBITION 6 JUNE - 28 JULY 2013 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any mean, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without prior written permission from HADA Contemporary Ltd.
CHUNG HEESEUNG & JE BAAK
CHUNG HEESEUNG & JE BAAK GROUP EXHIBITION
HADA Contemporary is please to showcase photographs and video works by Chung Heeseung (b. 1974) and Je Baak (b.1978) who intensively challenge on the idea of truth, perception and identity through rejection and acceptance of failure. As photography has often been quoted for its instantaneity capturing the frozen moment of reality, Chung Heeseung questions its unstable identity as a medium by acknowledging its limits to representation. Diverse objects of unconventional state displayed at the centre of the vacant surrounding of natural light provide sense of placid solemnity. Still-life (2009 – 2012) is a body of independent works in which the ar tist explores the elements of chance and spontaneity within her practice on the contrary to other series that are often exceedingly prudent construction of the initial conceptual framework. Nonetheless, it continues to narrate key aspects of her practice such as photographic presentation of liminality and duration as shown in other series as Reading. If Reading focused on capturing the physical remnants of the subtle emotional and psychological changes generated by the instability of the actors during their reading, Still-Life is the extension of this investigation as she photographs the unidentifiable state of the objects amid continuous transformative state in being. Her interest lies on the quality of latency in liminal state of being capturing the photographic image of ‘duration’ where there in no distinction between sleeping and awaking, floating and falling, and surface and inner space. As she comments “the liminal state is related to becoming than being, and continuation than fixation, ‘Still-’ implies aspiration on ‘duration’ overcoming ‘stillness’ as a generic meaning of photography. It is not spatial and measurable time but contracting and expanding subjective time. It is not only the time of the subject of photography, but also the time of the viewer interacting with a photograph.” Whether it is to capture the essence of the subject being sought by Heidegger or to conceal the true nature to create illusion, the subject and their physicality were crucial in photographic representation. Chung photographs the idea, intangible, invisible and flowing transitory nature of beings whatever form they may inhibit in lieu of a subject as a representational object. If Claude Cahun and Cindy Sherman’s approach to exploring the instability of the postmodern identity was through explicit ar tificial alteration to external representation like chameleon, Chung patiently records the continuous internal shifts carefully through her lenses. It is these austere metamorphoses, the barely visible moment, you will find far beyond the images, objects and subjects.
Untitled | archival pigment print | 148 x 119 cm | 2009
02 | 03
Je Baak’s ar tistic practice pivots around the deconstruction of illusions such as subject of value in reality which humans are engaged in blindfolded. Encompassing diverse medias, he effor ts to visually encapsulate the concept such as ‘selflessness’ and ‘emptiness’ from Buddhist philosophy through continuous process of inquisition and questioning of the logical fallacies embedded in the society. In A Towel (2008) and His Silence 1, 2, 3 (2010), he challenges the function and the meaning of the language and its limitation in relation to the understanding of self and the world. In His Silence, he assiduously deconstructs the language of Barack Obama, Dalai Lama and Slavoj Zizek that is unequivocal means to transfer and communicate ideas as politics, religion and philosophy to disillusion the purpose, the value and the weightiness of the meaning that we endow to words. By deleting contextualised words, he rever ts each interview into a long silence exclusively with breaths, painstaking thoughts, and pauses in between to suggest possibilities of communication beyond words freeing ourselves from linguistic limitations. In A Towel (2008) Baak serenely displays his childhood photographs in several sequences examining the relationship between objects, language and self. By deleting himself from the images of his past and displaying the remainder, he comments on the identity that exists through the relationship of possession. The ironic transition of definition of anonymous objects as they carry the personal involvement of the ar tist whilst the essence remain unchanged, is elaborated through the linguistic transition from ‘a’ to ‘my’. As seen in His Silence, the ar tist aims to detach and transcend from the attachment - the illusion of the meaning and the relationship visualised through language - achieving the selfless state of being.
His Silence 1 | monitor | 1min 10 sec (looped) | 2010
04 | 05
A Towel | Single Channel DVD Projection | 2min 24sec | 2008
CHUNG HEESEUNG
Reflector | archival pigment print | 206 x 155 cm | 2010
08 | 09
Bird | archival pigment print | 106 x 142 cm | 2009
Somnambulist | archival pigment print | 52 x 39 cm | 2011
10 | 11
Avedon | archival pigment print | 90 x 120 cm | 2010
12 | 13
Untitled | off-set print pile, 700 sheets | 100 x 70 x 10 cm | 2011
14 | 15
14 | 15
Untitled | four archival prints mounted on plywood, wooden shelf | 67 x 165 x 20 cm | 2011
16 | 17
Hung | archival pigment print | 128 x 96 cm | 2011
Paperbag | archival pigment print | 128 x 96 cm | 2009 18 | 19
Valley | archival pigment print | 141 x 70 cm | 2011
20 | 21
JE BAAK
A Towel | Single Channel DVD Projection | 2min 24sec | 2008
24 | 25
His Silence 1 | monitor | 1min 10 sec (looped) | 2010 His Silence 2 | monitor | 1min 10 sec (looped) | 2010 His Silence 3 | monitor | 1min 10 sec (looped) | 2010
26 | 27
CHUNG HEESEUNG ( b.1974 )
EDUCATION 2007 MA, Photography, London College of Communication, London, UK (Distinction) 2005 BA, Photography, London College of Communication, London, UK (Hons) 1996 BA, Painting, Hong-ik University, Seoul, Korea SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2014 HADA Contemporary, London, UK (Scheduled in March) 2013 The 11th DAUM Prize, Ar t Sonje Center, Seoul, Korea (Scheduled in July) 2012 Still Life, Doosan Gallery, NewYork,USA 2011 Unphotographable, Doosan Gallery, Seoul, Korea 2008 Persona,GalleryWa,Seoul,Korea 2008 Persona, Gallery Wa, Seoul, Korea GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2013 Chung Heeseung & Je Baak, HADA Contemporary, London, UK 2011 SongEun Ar t Award Show, Songeun Ar t Space, Seoul, Korea 2010 The Triumph of Failure, South Hill Park, Bracknell, UK I love your profile, Espacio Menosuno, Madrid, Spain Singapore International Photography Festival, National Museum of Singapore, Singapore Divided Gaze, Kwanhoon Gallery, Seoul, Korea I love your profile, University of Cadiz, Cadiz, Spain Maden pictures, Arario Gallery, Cheonan, Korea The Triumph of Failure, Noam Gallery, Seoul, Korea 2009 Photography as Contemporary ar t, Doosan Gallery, Seoul, Korea 2008 Seoul International Photography Festival, Ancient Seoul Station, Seoul, Korea 4482_Emerging Korean Ar tists in london, Barge House, london, UK Photo España 2008 descubrimientos PHE, Consejeria de Cultura y turisimo, Madrid, Spain Sensibility of the Ar tist, Ssamzie Ar t Mar t, Seoul, Korea 2007 Nikon Discovery Awards, London Olympia Conference Centre, London, UK Map 2007 Final Show, London College of Communication, London, UK Photography for Beginners, lCC Eckersley Gallery, London, UK CURATORIAL PROJECT 2010 The Triumph of Failure, Noam Gallery, Seoul, Korea AWARDS 2012 Daum Ar t Prize, GEONHI Ar t Foundation, Korea 2011 SougEun Ar t Award, Songeun Ar t Foundation, Korea 2008 Photo españa 2008 Descubrimientos PHE, Shor t listed, Spain Critical Mass top 50, Photolucida, USA 2007 Nikon Discovery Awards, Shor tlisted, UK ‘Sproxton Memorial Award’ for best in show, London College of Communication, UK
JE BAAK ( b.1978 )
EDUCATION
PROJECTS & EXPERIENCE
2010 MA, Communication Ar t & Design, Royal College of Ar t, London, UK
2002 Degree show “Free Falling”, “Lee Sang”, Seoul National University,
2003 BA, Visual Communication, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea (Hons)
Korea 2000-2003 Project Group “Anida” - Installation Project in Subway Line No. 6 “Together”, Korea
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
- Installation Project in Seoul National University “Oasis”, Korea
2013 Poetic Obsession, Gallery Royal, Seoul, Korea
- Teaching Project in Kwacheon High School “Designing Life”, Korea
2012 Petitio Principii, Gallery Jungmiso, Seoul, Korea
-Ar tTherapy inYoungdong Hospital,Korea
Petitio Principii, HADA Contemporary, London, UK
- Opening Title Sequence for “Human Rights Film Festival”, Korea
2011 Gong, Soomdo,Seoul,Korea 2010 Prelude, Ar t Club 1563 by SUUM, Seoul, Korea
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS 2011 Kumho Ar tist Residency, Kumho Museum
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2013 Chung Heeseung & Je Baak, HADA Contemporary, London, UK Young Korean Ar tists 2013,
2010
National Museum of Contemporary Ar t, Seoul, Korea
2009 International Student Bursary, Royal College of Ar t
The Viewer, disparu, MOT/ARTS,Taiwan, China
2008 Shor tlisted, Mangroup Photography Awards
2012 Korean Eye, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK When I spoke its name, it came to me and became a flower, Paris, France Solid Illusion, Seoul Ar ts Center, Seoul, Korea Korean Collective 2012, HADA contemporary, London, UK 4482 : Map the Korea, Barge House, Oxo Tour, London, UK As Small as a World and Large as Alone, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea Life, no Peace, only Adventure, Busan Museum of Ar t, Busan, Korea Belt SelectedAr tist,Ar tside,Seoul,Korea 2011
SelectedAr tist,BELT,Ar t Edition Korea 2010 Chris Ganrham Memorial Award, Royal College of Ar t
The Korean Miracle: A Cultural Evolution, Asia House, London, UK Embracing the Void, Hada Contemporary, London, UK More thanTastes,Ar t Space Hue,Seoul,Korea Point against point,Ar ti etAmicitae,Amsterdam,Netherlands
2010 The Garden which has two roads never meet each other, Museum of Ar t in Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea Screening, Seoul Square, Seoul, Korea The Plaza Principle,The Leeds Shopping Plaza, Leeds, UK Moving Image for London Fashion Week, Eun Jeong S/S Presentation Wonder Room, Selfridges, London, UK Akwaaba Astronomy, Launchpad City, Science Museum, London, UK Acoustic Images, British Film Institute, London, UK Joongang Fine Ar ts Prize - Selected Ar tist Exhibition”, (Seoul Ar ts Center, Seoul, Korea) Degree Show, Royal College of Ar t, London, UK Present from the past, Korean Cultural Centre, London, UK 4482, Barge House, Oxo Tour, London, UK Wrong Love, A Foundation, Liverpool, UK 2009 Work in Progress Show, Royal College of Ar t, London, UK The Cube, Hockney Gallery, Royal College of Ar t, London, UK Cross Fields, Korean Cultural Centre, London, UK Acoustic Images 2009, 29 Thurloe Place, London, UK On the edge of Life, Bath International Music Festival, Bath, UK
The Grand Prize, Joongang Fine Ar ts Prize 2010
2002 Tuition scholarship, Seoul National University
This catalogue is published by HADA Contemporary to accompany the exhibition:
CHUNG HEESEUNG & JE BAAK GROUP EXHIBITION 6 JUNE - 28 JULY 2013 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any mean, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without prior written permission from HADA Contemporary Ltd.
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