Koh Sang Woo's vibrant photographs explore an idealised version of pure love, uncorrupted by power or greed. Working with real couples or carefully chosen individuals to document their relationships, he paints onto their bodies before taking their portraits as part of a theatrical performance. By reversing the colour and light in the exposure, he gives his photographs an unmistakeable visual electricity and intense emotional charge - hyper-real romance for the IT age. Koh Sang Woo has exhibited widely worldwide and was listed in 2013 as one the 100 most important Korean contemporary artists.
True Stories Text by James Freeman Koh Sang Woo has a taste for controversy. His images may look beautiful, but the stories beneath needle away at the unspoken do’s and don’ts that tie us up in social and cultural obligations. His last exhibition in his hometown of Seoul, South Korea, was almost pulled at the last moment due to a call from KBS, the Korean equivalent of the BBC. It featured one of their presenters, with her husband, in a state of undress and, more importantly, without their permission. Another show picturing a mixed race couple was simply avoided and mothballed, to avoid offending ‘cultural sensibilities’. And yet it’s hard for us in the West to believe by just looking at the work. Koh’s art is part painting, part performance, documented in photography. Carefully choosing his subjects for their personal stories, he paints directly onto their bodies as he works, and then reverses the colours in the final exposure to give his photos an unmistakeable electric vibrancy. In one way, he is an artist that paints photographs, and sees the world in reverse. But this reversal is also a social statement, a means of subverting the way society can push people away from their ideals, and make them compromise and change to accommodate social pressures. In True Stories, all his photographs probe the kind of subtle conventions that restrain and limit their subjects – be it corporate control, racial prejudice, or the pressure to “be the best” as in his Portrait of a Girl / Portrait of a Woman” series. The works thus become a kind of release and defiance, beautifully rendered. And it’s his Eastern form of kicking against the system that makes Koh’s work so interesting. Not in the obvious punk aggressive way, what the West is used do, but a more discreet and suave manner of counter-culture, balancing Korean values of discipline and respect with the need to make a point.
Education
2001 The School of The Art Institute of Chicago
2000 New York Studio Residency Program, AICAD, NY
Solo Exhibitions
2014 ARCADIA, Solo Project at Scope New York, with James Freeman Gallery
2013 Wanrooij Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2012 Endless Love, Zaha Museum of Art, Seoul Korea
AHAF, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2011 Scope Miami (James Freeman Gallery)
The Burning Flowers, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2010 True Stories, James Freeman Gallery, London
2009 Koh Sang Woo, Gallery Sun Contemporary, Seoul Koh Sang Woo, Busan Art Center, Busan
Selected Group Exhibitions
2013 - Face Facts, Blank Space, New York, USA
On Paper, James Freeman Gallery, London, UK
Sometimes Beautiful, Castellani Art Museum, New York, USA
Art Revolution Taipei, Taipei World Trade Center, Taiwan
Love Actually, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2012 - CIGE 2012, The China World Trade Center, Beijing, China
Yeosu Art Festival 2013, Yeosu Art Center, Yeosu, Korea
New Connection, Yangpyung Museum of Art, Yangpyung, Korea
2011 - Art of Party, Lancaster Museum of Art, Pennsilvania, USA
From Desire to Sublime, Homa Museum of Art, Seoul
2010 - Sungkok Museum, Seoul, Korea
Korean Art Show, New York
“Media Media”, Queens Museum New York, USA
2009 - Pulse Miami, USA
Ideal Worlds, James Freeman Gallery, London
798 Beijing Biennal 2009, Beijing, China
Christie's London, 'Distinctively Korea', London
Talent Preview 2009, White Box, New York
2008 - SIPF 2008, Seoul International Photo Festival, Seoul
Body Extension, The Columns Gallery, Seoul
The Negative Image, Gyeong-Gido Museum of Art, Gyeong-Gido
2007 - Contemporary Korean Artists, New York, Hangaram Museum, Seoul
Fresh Illusions, AHL foundation, White Box, New York Photography,
Collections
Frederieke Taylor Gallery, New York; Bridgewater Associates, New York, Musée d´art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal, QC; Asian Artworks, New York; 2X13 Gallery, New York SJNY Design, New York; AHL foundation, New York; REDBBAR, New York; Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago; Brad/Trask, Chicago; The School of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; Busan Art Center, Busan;