earthsamplegwanak-gu

Having never before left the west, when he was 19 earthsample travelled to Hong Kong and felt supercharged by emotion and creativity upon experiencing this new corner of the world. He wanted to document the experience through his art, and ever since then he has been recording his travels by remixing the environments he finds himself in. His process begins with simple point-and-shoot documentation of his surroundings. He then manipulates the digital images, maximising on the high level of precision that is enabled by the digital medium, working pixel by pixel.

He borrows elements from the everyday which are often overlooked, and positions them as the focal points in his work. This shift in focus creates abstracted scenery with surrealist aesthetics. The GIFs are intuitive. They tap into the texture of the sidewalk, the sounds of the trees, the rich environments that surround us.

When we walk down a path, how much do we notice, how much do we absorb? When life is busy, we blast through without taking a moment to appreciate the details. In earthsample’s GIFs, movements are often infinitesimal and easily overlooked. We are therefore forced to slow down and tune in, pore over the works in search of the glitches, visually digesting the works as we do so.

Boiling his experience of a place - in this series’ case Seoul - down to its essence and transforming it into compelling visual montages is earthsample’s way. The works in gwanak-gu reflect the physical and mental landscapes earthsample found himself in at the point of creation, and simultaneously encourage us to partake in a moment of reflection too.