Photography From The Edge Of Space By Boomoon

Tabish Khan
By Tabish Khan Last edited 120 months ago
Photography From The Edge Of Space By Boomoon
Boomoon, Naksan #4277, 2010. Image courtesy Flowers & the artist
Boomoon, Naksan #4277, 2010. Image courtesy Flowers & the artist
Boomoon, On the clouds #6693, 2008. Image courtesy Flowers & the artist
Boomoon, On the clouds #6693, 2008. Image courtesy Flowers & the artist
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Boomoon, Untitled #7196 Breidamerkursandur, 2007. Image courtesy Flowers & the artist
Boomoon, Untitled #7196 Breidamerkursandur, 2007. Image courtesy Flowers & the artist
Boomoon, Installation view. Image courtesy Flowers & the artist
Boomoon, Installation view. Image courtesy Flowers & the artist

Flowers gallery supports an impressive array of photographers including Edward Burtynsky and Michael Wolf, and now they have given a debut UK solo show to Boomoon — a Korean photographer with an excellent eye for the abstract aspects of the natural world.

Upstairs is dominated by the Naksan series, black and white photographs of a snow flurry over open water. The bottom half of each work looks as if it has been over-exposed while it is, in fact, the beach blanketed with snow.  It's sensible to assume that even in the UK there must be beaches that are covered with snow in winter, yet Boomoon's works feel surreal and are unlike anything we've seen before.

Downstairs we find shots taken from a high altitude plane at the edge of space — the top half of the photograph fades from blue to the blackness of space while the bottom half is a brilliant white as it captures the tops of clouds. These starkly contrasting featureless images more closely resemble a Mark Rothko painting than a landscape photograph.

Boomoon has also created close-up images from the Arctic and these crystalline photographs of ice also have an extraterrestrial feel to them, despite being taken in Iceland and Greenland.

This is a small exhibition with only 14 works but the artist's meditative style means that visitors can spend minutes staring at each of these remarkable abstract photographs.

Boomoon is on at Flowers gallery, 21 Cork Street, W1S 3LZ until 5 April. Entrance is free.

Last Updated 11 March 2014