ios

2002-

In 2001, the artist went to Germany to study and the German landscape
with straight lines of endless horizon captured his attention.
kdk who was familiar with curve lines of mountains which cover
70% of Korea recognized the visual difference between the curve
and straight lines of the two countries. And with that in mind, he started
to take photographs of Germany’s scenery outside the car window and
large trucks on Autobahn from inside of a driving car for ios series. Like
the meaning of the title, image of speed, the series shows the abstraction
of images when the speed captured by a camera blurred the form and left
only color field.

In 2001, the artist went to Germany to study and the
German landscape with straight lines of endless
horizon captured his attention. kdk who was familiar
with curve lines of mountains which cover 70% of
Korea recognized the visual difference between the
curve and straight lines of the two countries. And with
that in mind, he started to take photographs of
Germany’s scenery outside the car window and large
trucks on Autobahn from inside of a driving car for ios
series. Like the meaning of the title, image of speed,
the series shows the abstraction of images when the
speed captured by a camera blurred the form and left
only color field.

f

2002-

What the letter f from the title of this series implies include façade and farbe
(color in German). kdk who prefers ‘grains’ over ‘pixels’ uses film camera to explore
exteriors of architectures in this series, where zooming in on a particular section
of the structure or boldly cropping the image of the chosen buildings turn three-
dimensional structures into color fields and flattened geometric elements.
The outcome may appear impersonal at first glance, however what the artist
attempt is reinterpretation of buildings through his own subjective vision and
sensibility more than distant objectivity.

What the letter f from the title of this series implies
include façade and farbe (color in German). kdk who
prefers ‘grains’ over ‘pixels’ uses film camera to explore
exteriors of architectures in this series, where
zooming in on a particular section of the structure or
boldly cropping the image of the chosen buildings
turn three-dimensional structures into color fields
and flattened geometric elements. The outcome may
appear impersonal at first glance, however what the
artist attempt is reinterpretation of buildings through
his own subjective vision and sensibility more than
distant objectivity.

a

2004-

The idea for a series first came to the artist when he visited the Ruhr, Germany’s
biggest industrial region. He saw big factories and warehouses in practical
simple design but at night, they turned into structures with minimalist aesthetics.
From there, he began a series focusing on buildings under artificial lights when
the sun disappeared (abend). With a long exposure, a building glowing alone in
the dark and the contrast between the subject and the surroundings are captured
from unusual perspectives. Using basic functions of a large format camera with
choices of the artist, this series shows what is real in unrealistic way.

The idea for a series first came to the artist when he
visited the Ruhr, Germany’s biggest industrial region.
He saw big factories and warehouses in practical
simple design but at night, they turned into structures
with minimalist aesthetics. From there, he began a
series focusing on buildings under artificial lights
when the sun disappeared (abend). With a long
exposure, a building glowing alone in the dark
and the contrast between the subject and the
surroundings are captured from unusual perspectives.
Using basic functions of a large format camera with
choices of the artist, this series shows what is real in
unrealistic way.

sf

2004-

In sf series, kdk transforms real architectural spaces into space beyond reality.
Also inspired by the new terminology ‘space faction,’ this series features
spectacular and surreal images of existing architectural spaces that are
reminiscent of the scenes in science fiction films. Using artificial light and
dramatic compositions, the future as he imagined gradually entered his
photographs overtaking the pre-existing buildings. By turning his imagination
into reality and a real space into a virtual one, he moves beyond the boundaries
of reality and illusion in this series.

In sf series, kdk transforms real architectural spaces
into space beyond reality. Also inspired by the new
terminology ‘space faction,’ this series features
spectacular and surreal images of existing
architectural spaces that are reminiscent of the scenes
in science fiction films. Using artificial light and
dramatic compositions, the future as he imagined
gradually entered his photographs overtaking the
pre-existing buildings. By turning his imagination into
reality and a real space into a virtual one, he moves
beyond the boundaries of reality and illusion in this
series.

w

2007-

In w series, the letter w comes from wall, winkle and white. Focusing on the
interior of an architectural structure for the first time, the idea of this series came
to the artist when he woke up one morning and experienced bizarre confusion
as to whether the wall had a corner that was protruding out or sunken in. Based
on this experience, he started to explore illusory spaces by capturing corners
where points, lines and planes meet. In the series, the optical illusion is
maximized by adding shades to the lines, points and planes of the corner
or with a close up shot, information about the scale of the original space has
disappeared. However, some clues including a variety colors or patterns on the
wall remind that they are parts of an actual architectural structure.

In w series, the letter w comes from wall, winkle
and white. Focusing on the interior of an architectural
structure for the first time, the idea of this series came
to the artist when he woke up one morning and
experienced bizarre confusion as to whether the wall
had a corner that was protruding out or sunken in.
Based on this experience, he started to explore
illusory spaces by capturing corners where points,
lines and planes meet. In the series, the optical illusion
is maximized by adding shades to the lines, points and
planes of the corner or with a close up shot,
information about the scale of the original space has
disappeared. However, some clues including a variety
colors or patterns on the wall remind that they are parts
of an actual architectural structure.

lu

2010-

line up series began when kdk took a notice of geometric aesthetics of orderly
lined up shipping containers at the harbor. In this work, the arrangement of
colors is emphasized more than the huge scale or sense of weight of the cargo
containers. Unlike his other series, the artist uses computer program on some
photographs in the series, when the containers are used as a unit for spatial
reconstruction and these cubic units are repeated and rearranged. This series
also includes works taking the idea from a game titled 'line up' on the iPhone
in which he composes the container-units on the black background of the
game screen.

line up series began when kdk took a notice of
geometric aesthetics of orderly lined up shipping
containers at the harbor. In this work, the arrangement
of colors is emphasized more than the huge scale or
sense of weight of the cargo containers. Unlike his
other series, the artist uses computer program on some
photographs in the series, when the containers are
used as a unit for spatial reconstruction and these
cubic units are repeated and rearranged. This series
also includes works taking the idea from a game titled
'line up' on the iPhone in which he composes the
container-units on the black background of the game
screen.

b

2011-

b series was shown for the first time at his solo exhibition in 2012, where one
work was installed on the floor and 5 works on the black wall at the gallery. The six
works seem to look like long exposure photographs of the celestial skies,
until you realize that these are close up photographs of mundane objects such
as a malfunctioning computer screen, back of an office chair and light passing
through a hole in a curtain fabric except the one on the floor. The letter b
from the title refers to black or between. b series is highly abstract and
suggestive even though it is photographs of actual space and objects. kdk also
produced video b (running time 2’58”) in collaboration with video director
Kim Intae and composer Lee jee reen (Humming Urban Stereo) for the series.

b series was shown for the first time at his solo exhibition
in 2012, where one work was installed on the floor and
5 works on the black wall at the gallery.
The six works seem to look like long exposure
photographs of the celestial skies, until you realize
that these are close up photographs of mundane
objects such as a malfunctioning computer screen,
back of an office chair and light passing through a hole
in a curtain fabric except the one on the floor. The letter
b from the title refers to black or between. b series is
highly abstract and suggestive even though it is
photographs of actual space and objects. kdk also
produced video b (running time 2’58”) in collaboration
with video director Kim Intae and composer Lee jee-
reen (Humming Urban Stereo) for the series.

p

2015-

In this series, various types of white "packages" are captured from a microscopic
perspective. Unlike the products which have a variety of colors, their packages
tend to have neutral colors, especially white as in this work. So, when
photographing them, they look like black and white photographs, but they are in
fact C-prints. The internal packaging materials whose only job is to protect
products are meant to be discarded after the products get into the hands of
consumers.

In this work, the nameless subsidiary materials are collected and given names
which reflect the list of products they are made for. Then, the spaces inside the
packages are photographed the way the camera explores spaces and structures
of bigger 3 dimensional subjects in the artist’s previous projects. The structures
of packages are as solid as structures of buildings and when photographing
them, they exude unexpected warmth and beauty of geometric abstraction.

In this series, various types of white "packages" are
captured from a microscopic perspective. Unlike the
products which have a variety of colors, their packages
tend to have neutral colors, especially white as in this
work. So, when photographing them, they look like
black and white photographs, but they are in fact
C-prints. The internal packaging materials whose only
job is to protect products are meant to be discarded
after the products get into the hands of consumers.

In this work, the nameless subsidiary materials are
collected and given names which reflect the list of
products they are made for. Then, the spaces inside
the packages are photographed the way the camera
explores spaces and structures of bigger 3 dimensional
subjects in the artist’s previous projects. The structures
of packages are as solid as structures of buildings and
when photographing them, they exude unexpected
warmth and beauty of geometric abstraction.

g

2015-

g series began on August 15, 2015 and as of March 26, 2019, about 3000 photos
of cloudy skies have been taken for the series. The GPS coordinates of the location
and time the photo was taken were recorded and became the title of each work.
They have been produced following a set of rules to get 'middle gray' which has
typically 18% reflectance in visible light. When a monochromatic subject is
photographed with correct exposure, the subject is recorded as middle gray
on the picture.

Middle gray is one of the most important standards and the starting point in
photography techniques. And in this series, kdk tries to bring this color into the
realm of modern art to create a variety of nuances of gray. With this way of
replacing the subject in real world with the color, middle gray, abstract concepts
of time and space are implicitly expressed in the work.

g series began on August 15, 2015 and as of March 26,
2019, about 3000 photos of cloudy skies have been
taken for the series. The GPS coordinates of the location
and time the photo was taken were recorded and
became the title of each work. They have been produced
following a set of rules to get 'middle gray' which has
typically 18% reflectance in visible light. When a
monochromatic subject is photographed with correct
exposure, the subject is recorded as middle gray on the
picture.

Middle gray is one of the most important standards and
the starting point in photography techniques. And in this
series, kdk tries to bring this color into the realm of
modern art to create a variety of nuances of gray. With
this way of replacing the subject in real world with the
color, middle gray, abstract concepts of time and space
are implicitly expressed in the work.