Man on a Mission: The Art of Cho Hyun-taek

Cho Hyun-taek is a man on a mission.

To be perfectly to the point about it, kids have uninhibited dreams that slowly erode more and more until they forget what their dreams were in the first place. In our modern society there is a desperation to succeed and the key to happiness is a return to a clarity that once existed in our youth.

Cho has recenly had two exhibitions appear in this city. His exhibition “Boys! Be Ambitious” was on display at the Gwangju Theater downtown and his autobiographical “The Sunny Side of Life” exhibition was on display upon the final level of the Biennale. Cho lives and works out of his home in Naju.

The work that was featured at the Biennale, “The Sunny Side of Life,” featured Cho himself as the subject. The photos were part of a project designed by Cho to document his work in 101 labor jobs. The photos span a period of three years and in them, Cho is the subject enjoying the simplicities of life. Him holding a Korean flag on a hill, hanging on a rope by the ocean or just relaxing between projects with friends; the works intentionally do not show anything “important.”

Along with the photos, a tent and a bench built by Cho were set up as an installation. While working the various jobs that inspired the photos, Cho lived in the tent. The simplicity at the center of the exhibition stands at odds with what supposedly promises to bring happiness in Korean society, or arguably any society. Money, material wealth and stability are what we are shown is the foundation of happiness, but through Cho’s very personal journey, we are given his vision of what “sunny” can be. He worked simply to sustain his art and he lets the sustaining work become the subject of his art. The money, material wealth and stability are left largely out of his vision.

In our interview, Cho talked about his desire to challenge the modern cultural paradigm. His photography stands as social commentary more than personal introspection. He wants his audience to do, not to watch and wait. The exhibition, “Boys! Be Ambitious” casts light on the erosion of our dreams as we age. Cho explained that in our youth we have no fear to question and we have a very clear dream of who we want to be. But as we age, that dream becomes forgotten and we give up on it or we replace it with a dream that places money or status at its core, not true happiness. The project aims to capture some of the erosion process by capturing Korean boys at arguably the most critical point of their journey: adolescence.

The subjects of Cho’s photos appear to be unaware of the photographer. They are more interested in their present lives. A group of boys branding each other, three uniformed boys lounging in a flattened patch of tall grass and two boys playing a guitar and saxophone in an alley between two houses; all of the subjects appear to be in a state of content presence. They are just doing. There appears to be no aim or reason attributed to their actions, they are just living. They are living as a Buddha, being 100% present in the present, not a bad place to be.

Cho pointed out that the command of the title, “Boys! Be Ambitious”, is meant to be ironic in it’s portrayal of what ambitious should be. In the eyes of Korean society, an ambitious student is always studying, always preparing, always building up to their future. But here Cho gives us the opposite side of ambitious: living with ambition in the present. His subjects do what they want to do without need for validation or permission. They are living their lives happily, presently, and without thought of consequence or repercussions.

All of the subjects in “Boys! Be Ambitious” are a slice of life unfamiliar to many living in Korea. They are scenes of rural life around his home in Naju. The boys in his photos offer snapshots of fleeting moments and memories that can speak to everyone who is growing up (all of us) and they try to remind the viewer of what uninhibited dreamers look like. In Cho’s vision, people would benefit from returning to simpler ways both physically and in their minds.

Cho was selected to have his work shown in the Biennale after being chosen in the “Portfolio 45” competition out of ten potential photographers. To Cho, the Biennale was an important exhibition environment that offered many different perspectives from around the world that can be hard to see in a place like Gwangju. The venue also brought a variety of people to the art; it was art for the people, not art for an intended audience.

Cho felt honored to have his photos in the Biennale, as well as humbled by it. He is a very young artist and many of the contemporary artists who shared the space with have been working on their art for their entire lives. He feels like he was among masters at the Biennale.

Special thanks to Cho A-ra, who did an awesome job as interpreter for this interview.

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