REBOOTING exhibition
PRESS RELEASE
In Yeonhui-dong, near Hongdae, Vegan & Beyond café is a staple of the Seoul vegan community. It isn’t only a café but also a place of community gathering. Quinn, the owner of this modern and warm place, brings together people from various horizons to celebrate the natural world we live in and learn skills emanating from it. Therefore, it is only fitting that she invited Romain and hosts his new exhibition, “Rebooting”, from April 23rd, 2022 till June 23rd, 2022.
This exhibition gives a unique insight into Romain’s photographic journey from vivid cityscapes to appeased landscapes. The viewer is invited to follow this deep transition that is not only an artistic one but also a personal one. The exhibition is a message to all to return to nature, reboot our digital, urban and restless selves, and restart as peaceful and patient contemplators of nature’s intimate beauty.
Each print presented during this exhibition is a unique edition, crafted to match the step in Romain’s transition. The cityscapes are colorful and printed on glossy paper to enhance the artificial intensity of the city, they are also framed in aluminum to reflect urban materials. After several steps, more peaceful colors are printed on semi-matte paper and surrounded by brushed pinewood frames to symbolize his return to nature.
Romain was born in 1986, in a suburb of Paris, France. He remembers playing with his dad’s Minolta camera and trying to capture seagulls on the Atlantic coast as a child. Since those days, that thirst for looking at the world through a lens hasn’t been quenched. He was the luckiest child to have parents who showed him diverse and wondrous French landscapes. Those two things later became pillars of his life. For years now, Romain has spent his mornings and evenings looking for off-the-track hidden gems in the mountains around Seoul and beyond. Thanks to the endless number of trails and lush landscapes in Korea, he is constantly increasing the number of natural vistas his camera has captured.
Contact info:
Romain:
Photography blog: stories and images
Facebook: Romainjohn
Instagram: @romainphoto_outside
Email: romain@romainphoto.com
Vegan & Beyond:
Seoul, Seodaemun-Gu, Yeonhuimat-ro 33, 2nd floor - 서울시 서대문구 연희맛로 33, 2층
Website: veganandbeyondkr.com
Facebook: Vegan & Beyond
Instagram: @veganandbeyondkr
Virtual Tour
There comes a time in life when the path you are following doesn’t satisfy you any longer. It is convenient and has its advantages, for sure! But it’s not where you belong.
For me it was cityscape photography. It was convenient, I live in the city, it only takes a subway ride to get to my shooting spot and Seoul is so big, spots aren’t lacking. Seoul shines with all possible kinds of artificial lights and ceaseless human activity. Superficial advantages are strikingly beautiful.
But they remain superficial. They lack… that measure of peace. I missed the sound of wind in leaves, the smell of moist ground after a rainfall, the sight of ancient, wise and patient plant life. Confronted to the incessant engine noise of the finite urban maze, the sterile smell of concrete, or the relentless stress of constantly birthed and dying trends, I realized the obvious: I had to go back to nature.
I believe that, as many who visit this place, we all went through our own transition that brought us closer to respecting nature. Some of us changed their food, some of us changed their living habits, some of us changed their political engagement, etc.
I present you my transition: from saturated and ephemeral cityscapes to simple and enduring landscapes. This is how I am rebooting myself.
DDP
60x60cm - 23.6x23.6inch, printed on fine art glossy paper, black aluminum frame, signed special edition
Seoul. Such a vibrant place! Always lit up, always thriving, always in motion. Can you see a single stopped car in this image? This is the place I live in. A gloriously designed space, made of glass, metal and concrete, where colorful artificial lights stimulate us and make us feel safe.
sunset over seoul
70x70cm - 27.6x27.6inch, printed on fine art glossy paper, black aluminum frame, signed special edition
It is only by climbing above this behemoth of a home that I see its imprint on my world. Every natural curve or hill is covered in perfectly vertical boxes and surrounded by artificial light and noise. Up here, I eventually see that the city isn’t my horizon. There is a place beyond it that rings more true inside.
Pines on Cliff, summer view
50x70cm - 19.6x27.6inch, printed on fine art semi-matte paper, black aluminum frame, signed special edition
The further away I venture from my concrete jungle the calmer the world seems. Even the tension inside of me loosens. My eyes are open now. Finally, I look and I see. A tree. It carries a mysterious wisdom. What is it? What can I learn from it? Do I even have to learn it?
Pines on Cliff, 3 seasons
22x41cm - 8.6x16.1inch each, printed on fine art semi-matte paper, two bare pinewood, one brush-died black pinewood frame, signed special edition
I look closer. It sways in the wind, bends under the snow, changes clothes in preparation of the coming cold: it knows that the way up means patience. The grooves carving its bark remind me of my inner pains. They also show me that they can be a strength, a base on which to stand and grow. A solid base that makes life meaningful, regardless of whens and hows.
bonsai pine, 2 seasons
67x43cm - 28.3x17inch, printed on fine art semi-matte paper, brush-died black pinewood frame, signed special edition
If I look even closer, I see my complex self reflected in the nature around me. The rigidity of buildings don’t allow me to live as the nuanced being that I am. Contradictions and insecurities reign in my heart. This tree must have felt those too. The one path we willingly lay in front of us in the city seems desperately pointless now. My beauty comes from my uniqueness, this tree knows it.
Hidden pine, dual winter
45x58cm - 17.7x22.8inch, printed on fine art semi-matte paper, brush-died black pinewood frame, signed special edition
I thought glass and steel where huge accomplishments over nature but as I look around me here, I see that these accomplishments are mere ant leaps. We rush ahead without a goal or even a plan when peace is the real cement that supports growth.
I hope these images allowed you to travel away from their supporting walls, deep inside of you, to the nature where peace makes us one.
Thank you very much for your visit!
I hope you are enjoyed my Rebooting process, along with a vegan glass of wine and food.
I just wanted to remind you that all the frame are limited editions and are on sale. Feel free to contact me or directly talk to Quinn, Vegan & Beyond owner, for more information.
If you haven’t already, please visit my previous exhibition.
I hope to see you in a future exhibition.