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VASA Front Page Project #42
The VASA Front Page Project
presents the work of a photographer, video and sound artist.
Front Page #42 marks the start of ten years of VASA exhibiting the work of international artist to over 7000 VASA international members.
Lee Gap-chul, Korea
Conflict and Reaction
© Gap-Chul Lee
Curator: Kyunghee Lee
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A coarse particle, a titled frame, and blurred focus are the results of unconscious, instant feedback emerging from deep within my mind. To encounter with these images, I always had to take a long moment of silence. Because they lie deep within my heart and soul, and surface only in the emotional realm of the unconscious, outside the bounds of reason, I have had to discover my spirit, our spirit, and the source of national emotions, which are still unknown and unrevealed.
About the work:
My photographic interest lies in all things Korean. My early photographs originated in a social perspective of such subjects as Korea's land, the Korean spirit, and Korean themselves, which have merged with my own fully subjective viewpoint and changing emotions. During the long process of capturing these images, I travelled the length and breadth of Korea, experiencing encounters with traditional Korean features and the Korean spirit. I took this opportunity to start exploring the root of Korean spiritual life. I never feel comfortable when it comes to images captured in a flash, with my heart pounding. the Korean spirit and sorrow shown in the photos seem to reflect a maximum of tension but in fact aspire to the artless tranquility that we traditionally attribute to nature.
About the Photographer
Born in 1959 in Jinju, Lee graduated from the Department of Photography at shin-gu University in 1984. He has travelled to various corners of Korea and has taken photographs of image of our ancestors' affection and sorrow, cheerful nature, and persistent vitality. Solo exhibitions such as Yankees on the streets (Hanmadang Gallery, 1984), Image of the City (Hanmadang Gallery, 1986), The Land of the Others (Kyung-in Art Museum, 1988), Conflict and Reaction (Kumho Art Museum, 2002) and Energy (Hanmi Museum of photography, 2007) were held and he participated in numerous collective exhibitions. He was invited abroad to the FOTOFEST, 2000 in Houston, U.S., Photographie Contemporaine Coreenne in 2002, Montpellier, France, etc. He was awarded the Sagamihare Asia Photographer Prize and Lee Myong_dong Prize, etc. He is currently represented by Vu Gallery in Fance.