For the 2021 edition of EXPO CHGO ONLINE, Pontone Gallery presents an exhibition of four artists, three South Korean and one British, who use landscape as source material. Working in a variety of media, from sculpture to photography to painting, Cha Jongrye, Choi Soowhan, Lee Jeonglok and Chris Rivers transform their chosen motifs. Each develops his or her particular vision through a thorough and skilful manipulation of process. These are atmospheric and mysterious pieces, thought-provoking in their subtle distinctiveness.
Cha Jongrye makes sculpture by assembling multiple, laminated contours of shaped wood to produce an undulating, folded surface of rhythmic complexity. These formal explorations of the possibilities of the material are inspired by her observation of nature and topography.
Choi Soowhan devises painstakingly-crafted lightboxes. Using images of plants, waterfalls, waves and countryside, his evocations of the natural world express its complexity, abundance and variety. The artist invites us to consider growth, change and flux.
Lee Jeonglok makes photographic images of strange and magical events. These happen in carefully chosen, personally significant locations, realised by a thorough mastery of time-lapse photographic technique.
Chris Rivers is a painter of richly-coloured, turbulent skyscapes. The expressively handled paint describes seething clouds, mists and vapours. On closer inspection, tiny figures can be seen caught up in the maelstrom.
