Lot 1624: MIN BYUNG-HUN

MIN BYUNG-HUN
(B. 1955)
WV041; WV048; & WV029
WV041: signed in Korean; dated and numbered '91 3/10' (lower left); titled and signed 'WV041; BHM' in English; numbered and dated 'ED 10 1991 91'; signed in Korean (on the reverse);
WV048: signed in Korean; dated and numbered '95 2/10' (lower left); titled and signed 'WV048; BHM' in English; numbered and dated 'ED 10 1995 95'; signed in Korean (on the reverse);
WV029: signed in Korean; dated and numbered '96 10/20' (lower left); titled and signed 'WV029; BHM' in English; numbered and dated 'ED 20 1996 96'; signed in Korean (on the reverse)
three gelatin silver prints
each: 34 x 34 cm. (13 3/8 x 13 3/8 in.) (3)
edition 3/10; 2/10; 10/20
Executed in 1991; 1995; & 1996 (3)

Seoul, Korea, Gaain Gallery, Min Byung Hun Solo Exhibition, 2-20 July 1996 (different edition exhibited).
Los Angeles, USA, Jan Kesner Gallery, Min Byung Hun Solo Exhibition, 10 July-17 August 1997(different edition exhibited).

Homi Publishing House, WEED, Seoul, Korea, 2006 (different edition illustrated, pp. 27, 67 & 81).

The forest is the central theme in Min Byung-Hun's meditative photographs. Taking inspiration from Korean landscapes, Min deconstructs the scenery into vague black-and-white forms and entangled lines of muted lyrical patterns, creating landscapes with similar sensibilities to that of traditional ink painting. WV041; WV048; & WV029 (Lot 1624) deliver the delicate eloquence found in both grand and minute scales of nature, infecting the viewer with the dreamy haziness and attractive ambiguity that is crafted within. Min celebrates the silent magnificence of nature through fully exploring the potential that straight photography has to offer, by manipulating lighting, composition, perspective in order to capture the fleeting nuances in time which the human eye cannot fully record.
In FF004 (Lot 1625), the broad, tranquil space in varying shades of grey instills the viewer with a romantic yet solemn room for contemplation. Min employs soft focus by blocking out the illuminant during processing in the darkroom, in order to reproduce nature as perceived rather than as they are. His works are a result of poetic paraphrasing of the grandeur in the natural world and shine light onto the phenomenon that occurs within the artist himself.