The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Bohn-Chang Koo was born in 1953 in Seoul, South Korea. After obtaining a Bachelor of Business Administration he gained a Diploma in Photo Design from Fachhochschule Hamburg, Germany in 1985. His first solo exhibition was held in 1983 at Pine Hill Gallery in Seoul. His most recent solo show was 'The Sea ofThought' at Gallery Seomi, Seoul in 1990. The first of several group exhibitions in which he has participated was in Hamburg Central Bibliothek, Germany in 1982. Since then he has exhibited mainly in Seoul, most recently in 1992 in 'Ah! Korea' at Ja Ha Moon Gallery. Other group exhibitions have in- cluded 'As If We Were Dead', Hanmadang Gallery, Seoul, 1987 and 'Eight Photographers from Seoul', Fuji Photo Salon, Seoul, 1988. The artist's work is represented in Hamburg Museum of Arts and Crafts and collections in Osaka, Japan and Seoul. His photographs can also be seen in the publications by the Photoband Project, A Day in the Life of Japan and A Day in the Life ofAmerica. He currently lectures in Photography at Chung-Ang University, Seoul. ' The works of Bohn-Chang Koo cannot be evaluated readily. Possessing a unique structure of meaning they present inter- actions between the photographer and the order of things around him. A glance at Bohn-Chang Koo's works over the past decade yields a general overview of his diverse approach -a photograph on its own, a manipulation or intermixture of photographs, or the altering of photographs by cutting and painting oil onto them. In some works he combines photographs with brushwork and needlework. Whatever the technique, all reflect his thoughts about the world. The essence and meaning of his works are found predominantly through an analysis of the basic elements of each work -the photographs and their intrinsic value. For his subject matter Bohn-Chang Koo chooses things that exist in the prosaic fabric of everyday life (but which are disappearing), and self-portraits. His delicate and refined eye has endowed commonplace objects with a new meaning. He never attempts to erase or distort the nature of the objects he has selected. Rather, using a close-up technique, he methodically separates them from their external surroundings, and thus emphasises the nature of the objects and gives them aesthetic value. The self-images, which are part of a series SOUTH KOREA BOHN-CHANG KOO 'The sea of thought', provide some clue as to why Bohn-Chang Koo focuses on things that are disappearing. He explains that he began to make self-images because of his desire 'to express the uncertainty of human life through the ego which is the main interpreter of feeling', and that he wants 'to deal with the meaning of the past, present and future' as it is related to the 'uncertainty of life and the linked ring between life and death, which humans cannot control'. This is consistent with the special attention he pays to the things which are in the process of dying. With these and with the self-images, Bohn-Chang Koo seeks to reflect on the consciousness which connects the object and ego to the undeniable being of death. Based on an article by Ju·Seck Park and biographical data supplied by the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea 83 In the beginning 11991 Gelatin silver photographs, cotton thread 128x88cm Collection: The artist