Irene Kung

“My pictures should enchant people, inspire them to dream, and tell them stories,” says Irene Kung. In her Timeless Machine series, the trained painter creates a connection between a perfectly engineered machine and timeless art. We see the iconic Porsche 911 in unexpected places – among snow-capped mountain peaks or between the skyscrapers in the canyon-like streets of New York City.

Her expressive photographs seem nearly like paintings. Kung takes inspiration from Renaissance frescos, especially the use of light by artists such as Piero della Francesca, Titian, and Caravaggio. “I’ve transferred the techniques of the old masters to photography,” Kung says with regard to her creative process. The artist works with different layers, highlights certain areas, and even digitally “paints over” portions in her post-processing. “In my mind, I am still a painter, but I use my camera like a brush.”

In this way, Irene Kung translates the graceful Porsche 911 into her own visual vocabulary, one that is mysterious, dramatic, and timeless. Her narrative photographs are like film scenes that take us through dreamlike stories, sometimes blurring the boundaries between reality and illusion.

Irene Kung was born in Switzerland in 1958, has an education in graphic design, and has studied painting in Rome. After finishing her studies, she began to focus more and more on photography. Her work has appeared in numerous solo exhibitions in London, New York, Beijing and Buenos Aires. Kung has participated in art fairs including Art Miami, ParisPhoto and MIA Fair Art Milano. After spending several years in Madrid and Rome, she now lives in Switzerland.

Solo Exhibitions

2018 Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM, USA
2017 Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM, USA
2017 Galleria Valentina Bonomo, Rome, Italy
2016 Galleria Contrasto, Milan, Italy
2015 Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM, USA
2015 Forma Galleria, Milan, Italy
2014 ArtPassions la Galerie, Geneva, Switzerland
2013 Forma Galleria, Milan, Italy
2013 Photographica Fine Art, Lugano, Switzerland
2013 Photolux Festival, Lucca, Italy
2013 Imagokinetics Gallery, Hangzhou, China
2013 The Temple, Beijing, China
2012 Forma Galleria, Milan, Italy
2012 Galleria Valentina Bonomo, Rome, Italy
2012 Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM, USA
2012 Goedhuis Contemporary, London, UK
2010 Photographica FineArt Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland
2010 Forma Centro Internazionale di Fotografia, Milan, Italy
2009 CentroArtiVisivePescheria, Pesaro, Italy
2009 Goedhuis Contemporary, London, UK
2008 Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM, USA
2008 Galleria Bonomo, Bari, Italy
2007 Goedhuis Contemporary, New York, NY, USA
2007 Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2006 & 2007 Galleria Bonomo, Rome, Italy
2003 Goedhuis Contemporary, New York, NY, USA
2008 Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM, USA
2007 Galleria Bonomo, Bari, Italy, 2008 Goedhuis Contemporary, New York, NY, USA
2007 Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2006 & 2007 Galleria Bonomo, Rome, Italy
2003 Goedhuis Contemporary, New York, NY, USA

Group Exhibitions

2018 Paris Photo, France
2017 “Sea(e)scapes. Visioni di Mare”, Galleria Contrasto, Milan, Italy
2017 Bulgari y Roma, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
2016 Guarienti, una bottega, Castello di Conversano, Apulia, Italy
2016 Les Racines du Ciel, Saanen, Switzerland
2015 Henri Cartier-Bresson e gli altri – I grandi fotografi e l’Italia, Palazzo della Ragione, Milan, Italy
2015 The Garden of Wonders, Fruits and Legumes Cluster, EXPO 2015, Milan
2015 Capri Trend, SALT, Istanbul, Turkey
2014 Capri Trend, Centro Cultural Pedregal, Mexico City, Mexico
2014 Capri Trend, Nirox Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa
2014 Capri Trend, Museum of Modern Art, Baku, Azerbaijan
2014 NY b&w, Pobeda Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2014 Capri Trend Masterworks Museum, Hamilton, Bermuda
2013 La stanza di Irene, Galleria Bonomo, Bari, Italy
2013 La seduzione delle forme, Casa dei Tre Oci, Venice, Italy
2012 Sense of Place, BOZAR, Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium
2012 Affinità e differenze. Da Haas a Zoran Music, Madonna dell’Orto, Venice, Italy
2012 Mare Nostrum, Certosa di San Giacomo, Stanze del Priore, Capri, Italy
2012 Il Fuoco della Natura, Museum Ex-Pescheria, Salone degli Incanti, Trieste, Italy
2011 Visioni Urbane, Fondazione Forma per la Fotografia, Milan, Italy
2010 Nautre Sensibili, Fondazione Forma per la Fotografia, Milan, Italy
2010 Puglia Conteporanea: Artisti a Palazzo, Gagliano del Capo, Italy
2009 L’Arca, Galleria Bonomo, Bari, Italy
2008 Incipit, Palazzo Rospigliosi, Rome, Italy