Bae Bien-U 'Convexconcave'
March 17 – May 7, 2011
Antwerp, March 2011: Korean artist Bae Bien-U will present recent photographic works ConvexConcave derived from his approach to landscape photography in his orum series. Bae is inspired by the similarity between the concave and convex lines or contours of the human body and the landscapes he photographs. A text called "Bae, Bien-U - Nature that is called body" written by Chiba Shigeo's analyses this idea and accompanies this exhibition. Chiba Shigeo describes how Bae Bien-U’s work is so unique as he is able to “see nature with his body not just with his eyes.”
Although Bae Bien-U takes pictures of many different things, his talent comes out most clearly when he encounters "nature", such as pine trees, flowering plants, sea, mountains, islands, et cetera. To be specific, when he pictures the earth, sky, mountains, sea or water, trees or plants or flowers, his photos become something very rare. Rather than saying that he tries to photograph nature, one may say that "nature" sent Bae Bien-U to the world of mortals. Nature is trying to show, no, display itself through him. (Chiba Shigeo)
The exhibition, opening on March 17th 2011 at the Axel Vervoordt Gallery in Antwerp, will be composed of six works: two vertical and three horizontal landscapes – mountains and one seascape.
Bae Bien-U’s photographic journey began thirty seven years ago, under the influence of American landscape photographers such as Ansel Adams or Edward Weston and the writings of the Bauhaus professor Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.
After extensive travels, searching for traditional painters of the Far East, the artist became convinced that it is the natural environment and tradition of the place where an artist lives, that forges his own unique artistic vision.
Bae Bien-U’s photographic journey in his twenties gradually moved from focusing on the natural environment of Korea to more specific features like Korean pine trees, the oreums(parasite volcanoes), the sea and the sky of Jeju island in Korea, the Jongmyo royal ancestral shrine, and more recently, even the Alhambra Palace in Spain.
The Axel Vervoordt gallery opened its doors in January 2011 with an inaugural exhibition of Günther Uecker. The Korean photographer, Bae Bien-U’s exhibition is the second show to occupy the space in Antwerp and will open to the public on March 17th.