Koo Bohnchang "White Vessels"Koo Bohnchang
"White Vessels"
©︎ Koo Bohnchang
VLC Gallery by AKIO NAGASAWA is pleased to present White Vessels,
a solo exhibition by Koo Bohnchang (b. 1953), one of South Korea’s leading photographers.
After graduating from the Department of Business Administration at Yonsei University,
Koo studied photography in Germany. Following his return to South Korea,
he has worked extensively not only as a photographer but also as an exhibition curator.
The exhibition presents nine newly produced platinum prints from Koo’s White Vessels series,
which focuses on white porcelain from the Joseon Dynasty
in the collection of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Komaba, Tokyo.
The works were selected by the artist together with the gallery from photographs
he made in 2006 of the collection of white porcelain assembled by Yanagi Soetsu.
We invite you to experience the distinctive,
time-worn textures of the white porcelain and its understated yet delicate beauty,
brought to the fore through the rich tonal qualities of platinum printing.
Koo Bohnchang, born in Seoul in 1953, is one of South Korea’s leading photographers. After graduating with a degree in Business Administration from Yonsei University, he pursued photography at the Fachhochschule Hamburg in Germany, earning a Diploma in Photography Design.
After returning to Korea in 1985, he played a pivotal role in shaping the foundations of contemporary Korean photography as both an artist and exhibition curator. Koo established a unique presence in the Korean art scene through his concise and minimalist photographic language. In recognition of his contributions, he became the first photographer to be awarded the prestigious Samsung Ho-Am Prize in 2025.
His works are collected in major institutions such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), the Kahitsukan Kyoto Museum of Contemporary Art, the Seoul Museum of Art, and the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. He has also published several photobooks, including Breath, Masks, and Vessels (Hangil Art, Korea), as well as Vessel and Everyday Treasures (Rutles, Japan), and Moments of Resonance (Culturegrapher, Korea).
Koo has held numerous solo exhibitions both in Korea and internationally, including at Samsung Rodin Gallery (2001), the Peabody Essex Museum in the United States (2002), Kukje Gallery (2006), the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2010), Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in China (2021), Seoul Museum of Art (2023), and the Asia Culture Center in Gwangju (2024), further elevating the global stature of Korean photographic art.
