The Narrative of Objects in Still Life: Questioning the Essence of Photography

[Anchor]

An exhibition exploring the essence of the photographic medium is currently underway. It invites viewers to imagine the narratives behind objects in still-life photography and approaches the medium through the lens of sculpture and painting.

Reporter Lee Ju-sang has the story.

[Reporter]

[Vibrating Objects / Through July 19 / Kukje Gallery]

A half-finished glass, an empty box, and the traces of missing contents evoke the passage of time and stories left behind.

Like applying makeup, wilting flowers are coated in a pigment reminiscent of black ash.

It captures the moment when life is lost, yet transitions into a different aesthetic state.

Amidst the flood of AI-generated images, this work focuses on the eyes, the senses, and the unique technical possibilities inherent in a camera.

[Koo Bohn-chang / Photographer: I would be grateful if, through this opportunity, you could understand that there are artists who contemplate the narratives of objects, the issues of our time, and the themes of life and death, even through simple, everyday items.]

The exhibition prompts a reconsideration of the essence of photography through the genre of still life.

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[Poetics of Form / Through July 19 / Kukje Gallery Hanok]

The muscles and skeletal structure of a model contained within a circular frame possess the proportions of ancient sculpture and the balance of the Renaissance.

A bouquet of tulips cutting diagonally across the frame creates a striking contrast between white petals and a deep black background.

While flowers are often symbols of femininity, they here evoke the male body, challenging binary concepts such as black and white, male and female, and classical and modern.

[Kang Myung-ju / Curator at Kukje Gallery: Even when placing different subjects together, what Mapplethorpe was ultimately interested in was form, proportion, balance, and tension.]

Mapplethorpe treats the human body like a sculpture and flowers like the human form.

Viewers can examine how he achieved a balanced, formative structure through the composition of shapes and the manipulation of light.

Reported by Lee Ju-sang | Video by Kim Yoon-sung | VJ by Oh Se-gwan
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.