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photos from the exhibition
> 03.2004.: Ki Yoon Ko
born in south korea, ki yoon ko moved to the united states with his family at the age of seven. he studied at institutes such as the virgina commonwealth university (visual arts), pratt institute new york (illustration) and san francisco art institute (painting). after discovering his own style and exhibiting frequently in san francisco, he moved to hamburg in 2002.
ki yoon ko has worked extremely hard the past years to develop his unique painting technique: he "sprays" graphite powder (dissolved in water) onto huge canvases, gently moving his finger over the tip of a small brush. being an impressive illustrator, he slowly creates photorealistic portraits in a painstaking work process.
patience and perfectionism lead to breathtaking snapshots of carefully choosen facial expressions, moving from asian to western features, capturing a moment in months full of work in front of the easel.
ki yoon ko participated in 2003's art fair "index03" in hamburgs kunsthalle, before he had his first solo exhibition in germany at the heliumcowboy artspace in february 2004. the show was titled "insight", which stands for "the ability to see cleary and intuitively into the nature of a complex person, situation or subject," a very good description of the driving force behind ki's work.
more info:
>>> promotional copy from the exhibition (pdf, in german)