Bae Bien-U

Like Andreas Gursky and Hiroshi Sugimoto, Bae Bien-U saw the potential of photography as artistic expression early on.  Although photography is now commonly viewed as art, his first exhibition in Seoul in the 1990s shocked many people.  Bae is most known for his Pine Tree series, in which he beautifully captures the rhythmical sense of pine groves in black and white photographs.  Here, he uses color and a more dramatic composition.  The strength of the bark, the serenity of the mist and echoing of the elegant trunks all make the present work an outstanding example of Bae’s Pine Tree series.