Known for his ongoing study of spaces, kdk (Dokyun Kim) explores an emotional, social and psychological encounter with the space beyond the visual and physical realm. He names his work with single English letters and these code like titles can have multiple meanings which can be open to extensive interpretations.
Like the titles of his series, his work shows aesthetically minimalist approach to the forms and details of interior and exterior of spaces. Although there is no human presented throughout his work, the subjects have been manmade structures or spaces where we can detect human presence even in an unconventional way. Since 2011, his interest in space has extended to the space of social network and new technology with his work instagram@kdkkdk, a project based on his visual diary kept from March 26, 2011 and 3dw, a series based on 3d printing works where 2 dimensional space in his photographs are restored to 3 dimensional space.
Born in 1973, kdk (Dokyun Kim) studied photography at Seoul Institute of the Arts in Korea and Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany where he studied under Christopher Williams and was a master class student of Thomas Ruff.
His solo exhibitions include instagram@kdkkdk at Sahngup Gallery in Seoul; p at Perigee Gallery in Seoul; Facility Skins at Michael Schultz Gallery in Berlin, Germany. Recently, his work has been appeared in group exhibitions, including Civilization: The Way We Live Now in UCCA in Beijing, China, Obsession, Arko Art Center, Seoul, Korea; A Photograph Rarely Stands Alone: Pairs, sequences, and series from the Kunstbibliothek’s Collection of Photography at Museum fuer Fotografie in Berlin, Germany and Wisdom of the Earth-A Homage to Korean Architecture at Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul. His work is included in collections, including Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Photography Collection; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea and UBS Art Collection in Hong Kong. kdk lives and works in Seoul, Korea.