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Art

In Cho Gi-Seok’s Striking Photographs, Humans and Nature Coexist in Uneasy Ways

Lisa Wong Macabasco
Jan 20, 2022 6:56PM

Cho Gi-Seok, installation view of “Coexistence,” at Fotografiska New York, 2021. Photo by Dario Lasagni. Courtesy of Fotografiska New York.

Artists have long found inspiration in the relationship between humans and nature—but few have done so with such lustrous, alluring effect as the Korean artist Cho Gi-Seok. “Coexistence,” Cho’s first major exhibition—curated by Fotografiska director of global exhibitions Jessica Jarl, and on view at Fotografiska New York until February 6th—examines what the artist perceives as the symbiotic relationship between plants, humans, and even digital matter.

Featuring painstakingly composed photographs created between 2018 and 2020, the exhibition focuses on the interplay between the artificial and the natural, and the harmony often found in those opposites. But while captivating, the works ultimately fail to satisfy. With a singular emphasis on beauty, the exhibition yields no clear, deeper meaning or philosophy.

Cho Gi-Seok, Balance Stones, 2020. © Cho Gi-Seok. Courtesy of the artist.

Cho Gi-Seok, Untitled, 2019. © Cho Gi-Seok. Courtesy of the artist.

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Originally a graphic designer for several Korean fashion and music labels, Cho yearned to create his own images where he could control every aspect of the process. His career is now deeply entwined with the fashion world, with commissions for magazines like Vogue Korea, CR Fashion Book, and Numero China. Brands such as Nike, Adidas, Gentle Monster, and Cartier are among his clients. Cho is also the creative director of his own fashion brand, Kusikohc.

As is common in fashion photography today, Cho carefully attends to every detail in his fine art practice, from set lighting to casting, styling, and props. Sketches are his starting point, and a video on view in “Coexistence” shows him drawing in black ink, almost storyboarding, the shapes and forms that will eventually become vivid, textured photographs. In his “Flower Study” series (2019–20), for example, photos of humans adorned with plants hang beside images of deliberately composed flowers. The surfaces, colors, and lines in the diptychs reverberate off each other. “Different things reveal their true nature when juxtaposed,” Cho noted in the video.

Cho Gi-Seok, installation view of “Coexistence,” at Fotografiska New York, 2021. Photo by Dario Lasagni. Courtesy of Fotografiska New York.

Given Cho’s background, it’s of little surprise that the works in “Coexistence” have the sheen of images found in glossy magazine spreads. That sensuous quality is underscored with an effective bit of set dressing at Fotografiska—floor-to-ceiling panels of feathery dried flowers, some dyed in vibrant hues, quivering at the entrance—that welcomes visitors before they even step foot into the gallery space.

These beckoning floral beauties underscore the show’s dynamic between the natural and synthetic, while priming viewers for the luscious, tactile qualities found in Cho’s works. Flowers and nudes are common subjects for the artist, who often finds inspiration in Seoul’s flower and antique markets. His “Coexistence” series (2018) combines both of these interests. In the works, flowers twirl across porcelain shards, tulips sprout out of a torso sculpture like new extremities, and freckled, spidery blooms clamber upon a ceramic face.

Cho Gi-Seok, installation view of “Coexistence,” at Fotografiska New York, 2021. Photo by Dario Lasagni. Courtesy of Fotografiska New York.

But if this is coexistence, it hints at an uneasy, or unequal, arrangement. One photograph recalls René Magritte’s The Son of Man (1964), though instead of an apple, a bird obscures the face of a stoic man dressed in a suit, appearing to attack him. And in another image, a milky white discharge drips from a red-petaled flower. A streak of Surrealism runs through the exhibition. In other works, elements of nature encroach and smother, almost fully eclipsing faces and bodies. As subjects in art, flowers and still-life images—no matter how beautiful—have long signaled death and the ephemeral quality of existence. That disquieting undercurrent emerges more fully in the final room of “Coexistence.” In Cho’s photographs, a model holds an oxygen mask to her mouth, two faces flush with rashy cheeks, tubes protrude from another figure’s head, and plastic toy predators in the form of sharks and a T. rex take the place of flowers.

But ultimately, the works on view do little to challenge or demand anything from the audience. The idea that humans today live in harmony with Mother Earth is a premise as fanciful as some of these images, which are perhaps better suited to the realm of fashion magazine spreads. It’s easy to envision luxury shoes and handbags standing in for flora as the focus of similarly composed scenes.

Cho Gi-Seok, installation view of “Coexistence,” at Fotografiska New York, 2021. Photo by Dario Lasagni. Courtesy of Fotografiska New York.

Cho’s photographs show nature through a consumerist gaze, and given the urgency of the many crises facing our planet today, some may find it irresponsible to showcase art that spotlights Earth’s beauty without prompting viewers to careful thought, or even action. The artist admits in the exhibited video that, with some works in the exhibition, he had no message or intention. Viewers may demand more than the merest gestures at environmental protection, especially when an artist relies so heavily on the natural world in his practice. And some might argue that regarding nature as a passive prop to be manipulated by man is precisely the kind of thinking that got us into our climate catastrophe—not to mention the irony of the theme of coexistence, given that the vast majority of works on view involve the artist exerting his will upon nature.

It’s difficult to discern whether the failure to cohere the works into a compelling exhibition lies in a curatorial shortcoming, or if the artist’s steadfast pursuit of beautiful images lacks broader resonance. But here’s hoping that, given Cho’s exquisite eye, he finds more meaningful ways to apply it in the future.

Lisa Wong Macabasco