Installation view of 《Linear Scan》 (Whistle, 2022) © Whistle

Once modeled after the human eye only to transcend it, optical technology is undergoing constant advancement. Earlier this year, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope discovered the oldest galaxy in the history of astronomical observation, while a Korean research team made a new breakthrough in microscopic imaging techniques that pass through the human cell.

Since the introduction of photography in the nineteenth century, its development has progressed in tandem with technology. Pictorialism, the period when images were created as an attempt to establish photography as an artistic genre; Naturalism, a retaliation to pictorial photography with its basis in physiology; Realism, a movement founded in the function of the twentieth-century camera; photojournalism, snapshots—photography marches onward according to photographers, the needs of researchers of all fields, or as art itself.

While it is a matter of course that the changes undertaken by photography inspire artists, for Kyoungtae Kim, with what significance does precise photographic technology function to complete the image, such that it resembles a painting?

Kim’s photography appears to strive for realistic expression, but works in 《Linear Scan》 incite confusion in the cognitive process. The artist explains his previous practice as follows: “The sense of size is lost in images that are in perfect focus.” There are three primary points from which to examine his work.

Technique to handle the focus of a close object; technology to view the facet or whole of the observed subject; the work reflects the attitude of juxtaposing cut and composite. However, his aim of drawing out the texture of the subject throughout the entirety of the work process evokes a pictorial impression.

In 《Dropping to the Surface》 (Whistle, 2019), Kim shot a one-centimeter scale cube, referencing the architectural drawing technique of axonometric projection and creating an uncanny objet image disparate from both its reality and its original vanishing point. Following this, in 《Bumping Surfaces》 (DOOSAN Gallery, 2021), he employed basic techniques of focus stacking to maximize the surface texture of artificial flowers.

What is the extent of Kim’s ‘focus’ methodology? Focus stacking was chosen in particular because of the fascinating occurrences recorded in the focal plane when the camera is either fixed or moving forward. Also, he found similarity in compositing images through software and the human process of perception; the object is only recognized as a whole by assembling multiple points of focus.

The focus stacking program is mainly used to compose a single sharp image by converging hundreds of images. Usually, the shorter the distance between camera and subject, the shallower the depth of focus, blurring what is beyond the focal field. In 《Linear Scan》, closeup and composite become the trick of choice.

Kim opens a dialogue on the movement of perspective that occurs when passing through structures while approaching the subject. The artist has compared this phenomenon to walking through a dense forest; moving forward, trees that were out of the line of sight slowly come into the field of view. Once merged into a single image, it is possible to observe characteristics that were obfuscated in the initial perspective.

Kyoungtae Kim, Brass Wire 1B, 2022, Archival pigment print, 140 x 105 cm © Kyoungtae Kim

The subject matter of 《Linear Scan》 are small brushes. A brush is a uniform structure, with bristles extending vertically or diagonally. With this object, the photograph can manifest even the smallest movement of the focus.

The works are displayed in a group or independently. In the diptychs, the process of the movement of the focus becomes established, while the solitary images reveal the technique itself. The alluded forest seems to bleed through in Crossing Surfaces SB2a (2022), where small conical forms are overlaid with one another, and in the colorful standing waves of Crossing Surfaces RB1a (2022).

Kyoungtae Kim has taken objects such as rocks, nuts, books, scale cubes, and artificial flowers for his subjects. These objects are so vastly magnified that their real scale becomes unrecognizable, or are presented as high-resolution images in which perspective has been eliminated. Dust, scratches, and strange, overlapping layers are all faithfully preserved and exposed, while their untouched and enigmatic presence leaves room for interpretation.

Although the subject may differ, the meticulous handling of the object’s scale and surface always remains the same. Through this exhibition, Kim reveals the extent and limits of human sight while beautifully executing the visual divisions of an unreal scene.

— Soohyun Kim, Deputy Director

References