Throughout his ongoing exploration of bamboo, Choi Byung-Kwan creates striking monochrome photographs of bamboo forests. Where he meticulously studies the plant in all its glory to create sublime, almost calming and contemplative images.
He studies the spiritual world through his constant depiction of nature and the natural world. To Choi nature is a part of self-awareness, self-recovery and enlightenment and furthermore in his native Korean culture, bamboo symbolises the SongJukJiJeol (松竹之節 unchanging integrity) from the past, SongGyoJiSu (松六之寿 strong nobility) and elegance.
‘Bamboo Grey’ depicts a metaphorical symbol of the Artist’s imagination pursuing a line and a form on the basis of restrictive beauty in a structural sense. This concept comes from the psychology of Zen, in that the scenery of the bamboo forest relaxes the mind of the viewer and leads us to the world of thought and meditation. Here Choi concentrates the lens on the white spaces between the bamboo and strangely, not on the bamboo itself.