Bharat Sikka

By yaohong | Published: April 10, 2010

Diametrically opposed to my previous post, Bharat Sikka’s Indian Men is a series that well…focuses on Indian men. While the palette is decisively darker (shades of Edward Hopper), the sitters’ colorful personalities shine through.

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TOP TO BOTTOM, from (“Indian Men“)
© Bharat Sikka, 2002

These environmental portraits are filled with interesting characters – all males of Indian descent, stratifying various classes of society. Set at, what I assume, to be their natural surroundings, we view these moustached men with an eye of curiosity.

What’s his story? He looks rich. Awesome looking facial hair!

These and other thoughts raced across my mind as I looked through the works. Every single person seems to have a story to tell and the photographer has managed to create an air of mystery around them. The series goes beyond what is shown and often, it is the things that are not shown that intrigue me the most.

Bharat graduated from Parson’s and works between Europe and India now. Drop by his website to see his other works.

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Posted in India, Portraits | 2 Comments

Koo Sung Soo

By yaohong | Published: April 10, 2010

I’m surprised that I’ve not come across this Korean photographer but Koo Sung Soo’s Magical Reality really caught my eye. The series consists of images filled with brightly colored manmade “monuments” – fake Statues of Liberty, a karaoke room (aptly named False Orchestra), odd trees and spaces that seem to be from pages of a comic book.

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TOP TO BOTTOM, from (“Magical Reality“)
© Koo Sung Soo, 2005

The more imaginative of us live in private worlds filled with color and totally divorced from reality’s drabness. Koo’s works explores the physical manifestation of this. Steering away from his older works where he observed the functionality of objects (“Principle of Functioning” and “Inspection of Factory”), this series focuses on the metaphysical aspect of function.

Bright colors fill the images, usually taken at places where humans find relief from their daily doldrums; amusement parks, galleries, tour buses et cetera. It’s a journey away and inward, to a reality where everything is cheerful. There is no pretension in the work, presenting a reality that one can only call magical.

For more of his works, visit his website here.

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Posted in Korea | 3 Comments

Pareto’s Law

By yaohong | Published: April 10, 2010

Finally, some time for musing. The past month had been extremely hectic especially at the day job – hence the lack of posts. Nevertheless, I’m committed to injecting life back to the blog. Just a passing thought today but it’s as if we spend 80% of our time on 20% of the things that we really want to do and 20% of our time on 80% of other tasks.

Naturally, the actual amount spent on the latter (things that brighten our souls) is so short that we end up passing through life with our eyes glazed over. I’m absolutely glad that I finally gotten down to some shooting last weekend though.

This weekend, I’m going to spend heaps of time doing what I really want. (Updating the blog, catching up on my readings, working on some personal projects.)

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Posted in Personal | Leave a comment

Call for Papers

By yaohong | Published: March 29, 2010

Helping to pass the word along for a call for papers for the upcoming CAA conference in New York, Feb 2011. Art-related academia is way beyond my capabilities but I’m sure some of you readers may find it interesting. Read on for more information.

Transcultural Visuality: Photography in East-Asia

The session will focus on photography, as an image making procedure, which reached East-Asia close to the time of the first experimentations and its commencement in Europe, mid 19th c..

This was a unique opportunity to take part in the shaping of the field by artists across East-Asia who took interest in the newly introduced medium. In doing so, many of these practitioners added to the developing language of photography, contributing from their respective aesthetic vocabulary, drawing from particular visual cultures, adding to technical and conceptual developments of the field. Photography, therefore, developed as a truly transcultural medium, with contributions from different cultures that conglomerated and shaped the field.

Papers may explore any issues regarding photography as a transcultural medium, created between East-Asia and the West, from its early days to the present; discussions of innovative projects in Japan, Korea and China referring to hybrid traditions of representation, narratives, localities, formats, monochrome/ colour aesthetics or compositional strategies, are of great interest.
 
Please send proposals (250 words) to:
Ayelet Zohar, Stanford University transcultural.visuality[at]gmail.com
By May 3rd, 2010.

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Posted in Asia | 1 Comment

Passing China

By yaohong | Published: March 22, 2010

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TOP, Three Elderly Entertainers, Beijing
© Liu Zheng, 1995

Talk about East meeting West. Sanatorium, a gallery in Turkey, is showing an exhibition on Chinese contemporary photographers, Passing China, from March 25 to April 24. This is in collaboration with Eli Klein Gallery from New York. A look at the list of artists reveal some well-travelled photographers from China – Chen Qiang, Lian Dongya, Li Wei, Liu Bolin, Maleonn, Miao Xiaochun, Pan Yue, Wang Yiqiong, Zuoxiao Zuzhou.

I think that the cross-border showing of photography, especially outside the main art centers can be quite a good primer for a region’s works. I have lost count of the number of people asking me for advice on photography coming from Asia (despite this blog’s moniker, I’m not really an expert). However, the interesting bit comes in when, after viewing the more well-known works, one finds the few gems in the rough. It can be an exhilarating experience.

Visit the gallery’s official website to read more. C-Arts Magazine has a review of the exhibition held in New York here.

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Posted in Art, Asia, China, Exhibitions | Leave a comment

Dennis Rito

By yaohong | Published: March 15, 2010

Dennis Rito was kind enough to show me around Manila when I was there last year. His new series, UNLIMITXT, strikes a deep chord with me. Like the many netizens out there, my existence is intricately linked to my virtual self, usually kept on life support when I’m on the move through my mobile phone.

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TOP TO BOTTOM, from (“UNLIMITXT“)
© Dennis Rito, 2010

In this series, Rito seeks to examine the internal world of text-messaging users. He is compelled to explore how technology affects our society and faced with more virtual than face-to-face conversations, how do we, as a society progress ahead?

I really liked these images, especially the eerie glow that is left one the subjects’ faces. It’s an allusion to how absorbed we have become with our handheld devices. Variety in the subjects also break the possible monotony that such a series is prone to.

For more of Dennis’ works, visit his online portfolio. Incidentally, he writes the Philippine Photography Scene.

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Posted in Contemporary, Documentary, Philippines | 1 Comment

Break

By yaohong | Published: February 21, 2010

Taking a break from all the blogging and juggling of my duo-life. Will be back for reservist training for the next three weeks. A good time to take my mind off my day job, the chaos that usually ensue and feeling guilty about not posting here. Hopefully, I will get some reading/thinking done at night without the distractions of the Internet. I will be back with some interesting photographers to feature. Catch y’all on the flip side.

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Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

Lei Jianyou

By yaohong | Published: February 7, 2010

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TOP TO BOTTOM, from (“??/Looking Afar“)
© Lei Jianyou

Lei is a young photographer from Zhejiang, China. A self-taught photographer with a short history behind him, his works carry a certain heaviness. He infuses elements of melancholy romanticism in his pictures of abandoned objects, often resulting in works that are both beautiful and painful to look at.

This series was produced during a winter period when he traveled to the north of China. The coldness of the weather, coupled with longing for a lost love and the warmth of friends resulted in this set of images. He projected his feelings onto a dejected landscape, as a form of mediation between a conflicted inner landscape and the serene world outside.

For more of his works, visit his portfolio here (in Chinese only, links are on the right of the images).

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Posted in China, Contemporary | 5 Comments

Joji Shimamoto

By yaohong | Published: February 1, 2010

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TOP TO BOTTOM, from (“9#, Sk8 and Toy-kyo“)
© Joji Shinamoto

Street culture graces the portfolio of Japanese photographer, Joji Shimamoto, as he traverses between New York City and Tokyo. Born and raised in Japan, he has since relocated to the Big Apple as a freelance photographer. Recently featured in Japan’s Photographica magazine and studio voice, this young photographer’s future looks bright.

Visit his portfolio to see more. A collection is also available here.

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Posted in Documentary, Japan | 2 Comments

Gloria Chung

By yaohong | Published: January 25, 2010

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TOP TO BOTTOM, from (“November“)
© Gloria Chung

I know it’s only the end of January but Gloria Chung’s November series made me think a little about how time flies. Turn one round on the spot you’re standing on and you would be saying goodbye to 2010 already.

This year has been pretty packed and awesome so far (hence the lack of posts). I’m sad to see this month almost over. Sometimes, life moves too quickly for us to truly enjoy every single moment.

Gloria is currently based in NYC and shoots freelance. Hop over to her website to see her other works.

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Posted in Contemporary, Korea | Leave a comment

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