Inside Cho Gi-Seok’s Perfectly Imperfect World
The first major solo exhibition by the conceptual photographer.
Summary
- Conceptual photographer Cho Gi-Seok opens The Coexistence of Imperfection at Fotografiska Shanghai
- Running through March 8, the exhibition features four major series that unpack the beauty of contradiction through themes of nature, technology, humanity and tradition
South Korean photographer Cho Gi-Seok is one of Asia’s most influential contemporary image-makers, leading the charge on a new visual sensibility characterized by delicate, surreal storytelling. No wonder he’s been tapped to direct music videos for Jennie, XG and Kali Uchis, or lens campaigns for Louis Vuitton, Prada and Cartier — gaze into one of his photographs, any one of them, and you’ll instantly feel the pull of his dreamy scenes.
Cho is stepping into the spotlight at Fotografiska Shanghai, which is currently hosting The Coexistence of Imperfection, his first major solo exhibition. Featuring four pivotal series, the exhibition invites audiences to embrace the beauty of contradiction, and explore the tension between fragility and authenticity.
“Imperfection is not a flaw, but a more authentic and profound state of being,” notes Cho. The artist fuses together ideas of tradition, technology, nature dream and emotion into a poetic tableaux. Cho’s work embodies a balancing act of harmony and dissonance, of strength and vulnerability — from the body-flora connection in “Flower Study” and the subconscious chaos of “Bad Dream,” to “Love & Hate” emotional seesaw to the moving study of humanity, nature and technology that is “These Days.”
Widely considered the “visual alchemist of the digital age,” per Fotografiska, Cho was trained as a graphic designer and took up photography in 2016. Despite being self-taught, his aesthetic eye fueled a swift global ascent. His images are at the vanguard of a blossoming “New Asian” visual language: chimeras of tradition and futurism, rendered through the optimism of youth culture. Sharp, saturated salvations from the fatigue of the digital era.
The exhibition is now on view in Shanghai through March 8.
Fotografiska Shanghai
127 Guangfu Road,
Jing’an District,
Shanghai 200070
