This is a photograph of flowers that Kim Jung Man has taken for 20 years while traveling around the world, including South Korea, Africa, the Philippines, Thailand, and Guam. The photograph was presented in his solo exhibition 《Naked Soul》 and later published in his photo essay 『Naked Soul』 (2005) among his 111 representative works. The artist captured the shapes of flowers in a close-up and expressed the beauty of the colorful and fascinating flowers as well as a passion for life. In order to maximize the original and mysterious feeling of flowers, he placed the base in black, red, and white colors, and sometimes waited until the flowers dried up. For Kim Jung Man, flowers were also a way to demonstrate eroticism, which is often concealed or excessively implied by modern people. Through this work, the artist conveys his idea that human desires should be sincerely communicated, cherished, and shared with one another.
Kim Jung Man (1954-2022) studied at Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Arts de Nice, La Villa Arson in France. He held diverse solo exhibitions including《African Journey》 (Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul, 2000-2001), 《Red Light / 2 seconds or Walking into Strange Cities and Skies》 (PNC Gallery, Seoul, 2015), 《KIM Jungman: Korea and China Through His Polaroid/Smartphone Camera》 (Korean Cultural Center in Hongkong, Hongkong, 2018), and 《Street of Broken Hearts》 (The Museum of Photography, Seoul, 2018). He participated in diverse group exhibitions such as 《What Happens Between Art and Popular Culture》 (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon [MMCA], 2004), 《60 Years of Korean Modern Photography 1948-2008》(MMCA, Gwacheon, 2008), 《Blooming Silk Road》 (Sejong Museum of Art, Seoul, 2014), and 《Korea Tomorrow 2016》(Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul, 2016). Kim Jung Man is an artist who straddles the border between fine art photography and commercial photography. Since his debut at his solo exhibition in 1975, he has rejected stereotypical approaches has and pursued nature photography, showing his unique works dealing with human figures, flowers, animals, and landscapes. In particular, he made his name through his photographic works with celebrities such as models, actors, and musicians. After he announced that he was quitting commercial photography in 2006, he worked between remote and polar regions of the world and focused on non-commercial photography containing nature and the cultural heritage of South Korea.
