BOOMOON

Posted on 2014-03-03

Boomoon’s exhibition comprises of selected works from his series Sansu, Naksan, Northscape and On the Clouds. Sansu refers to the concept of ‘sansu’ (mountain-water) a core concept within the representation of nature in Far-Eastern aesthetics; an idea centred on the metaphysical union with nature. Boomoon’s contemporary vision of ‘sansu’ depicts Seoraksan National Park in all its graphic detail in the midst of winter. Naksan is characterised by details of crashing waves within snow covered seascapes.
The vertical format photographs are dominated by a blank plane in the lower half of the image. This is where the accumulation of snow on the beach is rendered as a singular flat surface devoid of any detail, scale or perspective. Naksan takes its name from a beach on the east coast of South Korea that faces Japan.

Boomoon (b.1955) is a South Korean photographer currently working in Seoul and Sokcho. Since the 1980’s he has been engaging with the natural landscape in his work as a means of self-reflection, producing large format photographs of vast expanses of sea, sky and land. Devoid of human presence, the central emphasis of his work is the experience of the infinity of nature and the representation of it’s presence.

Opposite – 0 Naksan #4273, 2010

Exhibition runs through to April 5th, 2014

Flowers Gallery
21 Cork Street
London
W1S 3LZ

www.flowerseast.com

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HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON AND ROBERT FRANK

Posted on 2014-03-03

Indisputably two of the giants of 20th century photography, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank have rarely, if ever, been exhibited together. What is particularly surprising about this is that while each stands on their own with distinctive and seminal bodies of work, they have throughout their lives been loosely associated. Within a six year period of time they published what are arguably the two most influential books in the history of photography – Cartier-Bresson’s “The Decisive Moment” (1952) and Frank’s “The Americans” (1958). They traveled avidly and were never more productive than when they were on the road, and they both shied away from any personal publicity or fame the better to go out in the world unnoticed. In a medium that by the end of the century was largely taken over by photographers looking in, they looked out.

While Cartier-Bresson and Frank’s paths frequently crossed, a certain amount of friction, is known to have existed between the two. Cartier-Bresson is thought to have kept Frank out of becoming a member of Magnum, while Frank was openly dismissive of Cartier-Bresson’s work. Writing about his philosophy of photography in the preface to “The Decisive Moment” Henri Cartier-Bresson opined that a picture (story) is “a joint operation of the brain, the eye, and the heart”. One year later, Robert Frank, quoting Saint-Exupery countered – “it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

Rather than seeing these two artists as rivals, this show celebrates the pinnacle of an era where photography was still bursting with possibilities, Frank and Cartier-Bresson were at the height of their artistic power, traveling the world not to see it topographically but to understand and interpret the human condition.

Opposite – Alberto Giacometti, Paris, 1961, Henri Cartier-Bresson

This exhibition runs until the 22nd of March,  2014

Danziger Gallery
527 West 23rd Street
New York
NY
10011

www.danzigergallery.com

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