August 9 – August 18, 2012
Opening Reception
Thursday, August 9, 5-7pm
511 West 25th Street New York, NY 10001

Kips Gallery is pleased to present Geometric Knife Drawing, a solo exhibition of works of Byung Wang Cho.

Byung Wang Cho is involved in creating geometric knife drawings. The human touch extends the methodology of digital print and the subtleties in digitally produced color and texture to the new level. These drawings are made with thousands of straight lines, scratched directly on photographs with a knife and a ruler. In order to create these drawings, the material is removed and discovered rather than accumulated.

These knifing drawings dismantle the traditional boundaries between drawing, sculpture, and photography. They were created through knifing actions, in which the body’s relationship to material (photograph) is explored through a knife and ruler. An exploration of the invisible structural characteristics under the surface of photographs is the major theme. They overturn traditional definitions of photography, separating the scratched lines from the conventional photographic surface (exposure) to construct the new readings of the narrative and the space. The methodology to achieve this can be described as follows:

He tears off photograph’s surface very carefully with the tip of a knife following a ruler and creates a very thin horizontal line, much like the lines of a print. He starts at the left and ends at the right. He uses abstract photographs and erases instantaneously recognizable images by enlargement and throwing them out of focus. Much like the laser eye surgery, he controls the angle of a knife and the depth of digging and varies the intervals between the lines through the weakening and hardening of scratching. He produces several chromatic variations with rhythmic patterns and layers of the most unexpected color.

Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 12pm to 6pm, or by appointment. For further information or images, please contact the gallery at 212.242.4215 or kips@kipsgallery.com.