Galerie Camera Obscura presents Selfportrait by Koo Bohnchang.
Koo Bohnchang’s work is rooted in Korean culture, which is deeply steeped in animism, and objects can also be the receptacle of spirits.
In addition to his own collections, Koo Bohnchang has been working for years on the white, simple and metaphysical forms of ceramics from the Joseon dynasty (14th-19th century) which he photographs in museums around the world in order to symbolically “bring together” the spirits of these ancestors scattered far from their native land.
The second part of Selfportrait is an extension of this important work that we showed during Koo Bohnchang’s previous exhibition at the gallery and results from the discovery of two collections in two museums, in Japan and Peru.
KOO Bohnchang was born in Seoul (South Korea) in 1953.
After studying management and starting a career in a multinational company, he decided to follow his passion for art and entered the Fachhochschule in Hamburg in 1979 to learn design and photography. Six years later, he returned to Korea and began a career as an advertising photographer. At the same time, he teaches at the University and develops a personal work.
Rich in his European experience, Koo Bohnchang actively participated in the development of a photographic culture in Korea, a country where it was not very present at the time: he opened a bookstore and a gallery, taught at the university, carried out historical research, organized exhibitions …
His personal work has been the subject of more than sixty personal exhibitions in Korea, China, Japan, as well as in Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria), the United States, Australia.
His works are present in the permanent collections of the Guimet and Carnavalet museums (Paris), British Museum (London), San Francisco Museum of Arts, Philadelphia Museum of arts, Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), Seoul Museum of Arts, Leum Samsung Museum of Art, The Museum of Photography (Seoul), Kahitsukan (Kyoto), Herzog Foundation (Basel), Museum of Arts and Crafts (Hamburg)… and many other institutions.
His bibliography includes some thirty books, published mainly in Korea and Japan.
KOO Bohnchang : Selfportrait
from June 3 to July 29, 2023
Galerie Camera Obscura
268, boulevard Raspail
75014 Paris
www.galeriecameraobscura.fr
