Middlemen / 중간인
Hein-Kuhn Oh / 오형근
Iann
Edited by Jeong Eun Kim / 김정은
English and Korean
Hardcover
144 pages
340×290 mm
2012
ISBN 978-89-966453-6-8
In his work, an artist may feel that he has seen the essence of the world. But that is not the essence of the world but merely the essence of his reaction to that essence. – Ernst H. Gombrich
Hein-Khun Oh has zoomed in on the feverish anxiety and absurdity of Korean society through portrait photography in previous works Ajumma (1999), Girl’s Act (2005), and Cosmetic Girls (2009). With his latest work Middlemen, he depicts the group mentality of military life as a giant absurdist play. For the artist this viewpoint of being a man stuck in the middle comes with an enormous amount of anxiety. Where does this anxiety come from? As Gombrich says, it is most likely a psychological expression from within.
Starting as a documentary photographer who captured the social landscapes on the streets, Hein-Kuhn oh has focused on documenting specific groups of people that present a certain type of social convention created by the Korean society past 10 years.
www.heinkuhnoh.com
Since its foundation in 2007, Iann has organised a variety of projects ranging from the publication of the contemporary art photography magazine to curating exhibitions, publishing books, and running educational programs.
