JINGYEONG SANSU 진경산수
BY SEUNGGU KIM 김승구
“JINGYEONG SANSU” is a Korean traditional aesthetic term which means continuous observation of nature and harmony with nature, and is also the official name of the new residential style shown in these photographs. Oriental culture has been developed based on the "zen" philosophy and within this culture; mountains with the strongest forces are called as "noted mountain". The recent trend in Korean apartment complexes is to copy the most famous part of the mountain and artificially recreate mountain in the middle of the apartment complex. It increases the value of the apartment, and at the same time, residents have some psychological satisfaction since there is a traditional belief that holy mountain gives luck, health, and fortune. Through these oddly beautiful mountains, Kim wanted to describe a new form of the "zen" which lost its traditional value to adjust to the industrialized society. The artist has been taking all the mountains in different seasons and different time of the day, since there is a traditional Korean philosophy to observe the object frequently, not only to find different details, but also recognize new perception of the object.
About the author
Born and raised in Seoul, Korea in 1979, Seunggu Kim lives and works in Seoul, South Korea. And he majored in photography in SM university and studied visual art at Korea National University of Arts. He would like to describe how we are living. He thought photography could show our ‘real world’. He wanted to balance the unnatural elements in the rectangle frame and describe that we are getting used to the social ironies of reality. Exhibitions have included Artbit Gallery, Post Territory Ujeongguk, Song Eun Storage / Song Eun Art Cube, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Art Sonje, Song Eun Art Space, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea, and BMW Photo Space, Busan, Korea, Exco, Daegu, Korea. Awards and Grants include Filter Space, Chicago, The Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Korea, GoEun Art and Cultural Foundation, Korea, The Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, SongEun Art and Cultural Foundation.
Website : http://www.seunggukim.com