The Photographer's 'Icon'
Through March 30 at the Hangaram Art Museum
The Seoul Arts Center and The Hankyoreh are presenting the exhibition in Galleries 3 and 4 of the Hangaram Art Museum through March 30.
This exhibition is the first large-scale retrospective in Asia and in Korea of Albert Watson, a master of fashion and portrait photography. On view are 125 major works spanning the artist's entire career—from his early works of the 1960s to his latest 2022 pieces being shown to the public for the first time—including portraits of celebrities, personal projects featuring landscapes and still lifes, and experimental photography.
The exhibition is organized into two parts. The first traces Watson's chronology. It brings together, in one place, photographs on a wide range of subjects that Watson has explored and pursued throughout his life—portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and experimental photography, from his Los Angeles period, when he began his career in earnest, to the present. In chronological order, it showcases his passion for continually taking on new challenges, unbound by the nature, genre, or location of the work, whether commercial pieces, personal projects, or outdoor work carried out while traveling.
The second part takes visitors into Watson's studio. It is designed so that audiences can encounter Watson through a variety of experiences, including ▲'Behind The Scene,' where visitors can discover the stories of the many people who appeared in the studio where Watson worked; ▲'Watson Studio,' where they can experience the working environment of a professional photographer; and ▲'Digital Runway,' where they can view digital photographs and videos in a space filled with music personally selected by Watson. In particular, at 'Watson Studio,' visitors can examine Polaroid test shots, contact sheets, and the working process, while also experiencing the shooting set firsthand and even trying their hand at taking photographs.