BAE BIEN-U

Bae Bien-U is a self-taught photographer and one of the most internationally recognised outside of South Korea. Always interested in landscape, he began to take photographs in the 1970s. From 1985 Bae Bien-U has concentrated on pine forests, resulting in the series Pine Tree which is shown here together with the series Wind of Tahiti. Profoundly inspired by the pine trees to be found across all of South Korea, Bae opted to focus on the trees on the hills around the old city of Gyeongju. Photographed at different times of day, often in mist, and using very long exposures, the images are imbued with great poetic density and create a mystic effect and a feel of eternity

Wind of Tahiti was created during the artist’s time on the island in 2002 and 2003. Fascinated by the landscape and the coastline, volcanoes and lakes of an island that reminded him of his native city, Bae Bien-U photographed the luscious vegetation of the Botanical Garden, the coral atoll of Tetiaroa and the idyllic landscapes of the Moorea Island. Looking at these images, in which the artist presents the vegetation in all its colour and splendour, we seem to feel the air moving and the leaves and branches trembling in the wind.

Bae Bien-U does not aim to capture reality in his photographs, but rather the essence or soul of the objects that he observes. He thus invites us to contemplation, even meditation, so that we feel transported in their presence. His work reveals connections with the Oriental pictorial tradition while also evoking the spirit of European Romanticism.