Dual Natures in Ceramics

LEE Inchin

“I am grateful for my life where I can live by touching clay. Basically my work revolves around throwing on the potter’s wheel, remaining true to basic functional shapes, and then seeing the outcome of wood firing on unglazed surfaces. A wide range of expressions is naturally created inside the kiln where the fire and wood react, and the ashes float about to conjure their own magic. I become extremely attached to such a way of making, as the process is not artificial but rather a naturally inflicted form of art . . . The endeavor is to get near understanding the essence, and for that I repeat and repeat, making similar shapes again and again. I attempt to transform the foot and the rim, also experiment with ratio in order to create shapes that transmit a new sensibility. At times they are refined and sophisticated with a sense of naturalness and friendliness . . . Experimenting with clay and fire is ‘FUN’ and it has a peculiar kind of addiction. The ‘FUN’ that we are talking about here relates to repeated labor and requires a long period of time in order to acquire the skill, and gain confidence and vision in new learning. Laborious strength and long hours put into my work has led me to the path of ‘happy life.’”

—Lee Inchin
(b. 1957 in Seoul, Korea

Lee Inchin respectfully contemplates the power of natural forces and the effects they have on his ceramics. Drawn first byonggi, the traditional, breathable pots of dark stoneware, Lee has contemporized the forms into unstandardized, organic shapes.Onggi, originally used for everyday life, is made of coarse clay mixed with sand particles, which form small holes when fired. The mixture of clay and ash-glaze results in bubbles forming over those holes that burst when fired, creating rough textured surfaces. Lee experiments with the different levels of oxygen, clay, and heat to produce a range of textures and forms. While each ceramic is powerful in itself, Lee also creates impressive installations that layer and stackonggi pots on top of each other, reminiscent of everyday kitchenware but exposing sculptural ingenuity. The whole of the artist’s works contains both the severity and veracity of nature.  

Lee achieved both his BFA and MFA in ceramics at Hongik University in Seoul, Korea, where he continues to teach while maintaining studios in Southern California and Seoul.

KIM Yik-yung

“As an artist, I have immersed myself in understanding our cultural heritage. Joseon dynasty ceramics are highly admired in the world of today’s professional ceramic art for its modern form and distinctive aesthetic achievements. Therefore, I have great pride in being a Korean ceramist while being obliged to further develop our traditions. I have always wondered about the inner thoughts of Korea’s ancient potters when they were creating those modern forms.”

“During the Joseon dynasty, the former Buddhist society of Goryeo shifted to a Confucian-based country. The ideals of society became austere pragmatism, not allowing for vibrancy or decoration of luxury. This might have been a great influence on those potters, but a more important matter is likely the fact that Korean people are born with innate tendencies of naturalism in their living philosophy. The attitude of the potters is obedient to the nature of the clay as well as the actual process of making to become humble, innocent and honest from their heart. Because of these healthy and simple forms that Joseon ceramics possess, it is always leading me as my teacher.”

—Kim Yik-yung
(b. 1935 in Cheongjin City, Hamgyeong Province in present-day North Korea)

While pursuing a chemical engineering degree in the United States, Kim Yik-yung was inspired by British studio potter Bernard Leach. Kim’s shared appreciation of Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) whiteware allowed her to explore ceramics, a complete shift from her original field. Yet, her engineering background allows for innovative ways to approach glazes and cutting techniques. She reinvents modern porcelain using what she has discovered through her own process.

Tradition looks towards the minimalism found in nature. Kim’s whiteware embraces this idea with simple forms and elegant curves. She is able to analyze the chemical properties of glaze and uses different methods of coating to create a matte finish. Her approach to the clay’s surface is exceptional, crafting different textures through cutting techniques. For over forty years, Kim has worked and reworked the traditions of Joseon whiteware, attempting to define core elements of the practice while moving towards her ideas of beauty.

YOON Kwang-cho

“I am beginning a creative rebellion toward a new art. I seek incessant experimentation with the depth and insight of traditional Korean cultural roots. I also enjoy celebration of the free spirit of art creation . . . The blue Goryeo celadons and white Joseon porcelains boast of dignified simplicity with perfectly balanced forms and linear patterns. Compared to them,buncheongwares feature spontaneous artlessness with carefree, coarse crude forms. More importantly,buncheongtreasures the artisan spirit of our ancient potters, which touches me deeply. Withbuncheong, I can freely make a variety of decorations, patterns and designs, by inlaying, scratching, and cutting away white-slip. In sharp contrast to porcelains and celadons,buncheongdoes not hide the quality of its origin–earth.

“Meditation in a timeless atmosphere gives me an artistic vision and inspiration . . . An artist should put his or her heart and soul into works, even while painting a tiny dot. And the artist is required to infuse fresh air into lifeless things . . . You cannot create artistic pieces without painstaking effort. The more you suffer, the better your work turns out. In this sense, this is another form of asceticism, endless struggle to overcome yourself.”

Yoon Kwang-cho
(b. 1946 in Hamheung City, Hamgyeong province in present-day North Korea)

Yoon Kwang-cho began to study buncheong (white-slipped stoneware) in 1970, and has continued to work with buncheong for the past forty years. Buncheong was introduced during the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) but disappeared following the Japanese invasion of 1592, after which, production continued only in Japan. Feeling regret for this lost tradition, Yoon has pioneered contemporary buncheong ceramics. Beginning in the 1990s, Yoon abandoned the potter’s wheel in favor of hand-shaped slabs. His buncheong ceramics have become more sculptural, with rectangular shapes and uneven edges. The works on display reveal his poetic and playful attempts of applying white slip onto a clay body in innovative ways to create bold tactile surfaces.

Yoon, formerly a Buddhist monk, graduated in fine arts at Hongik University in Seoul, Korea. He sometimes infuses his ceramics with a spiritual quality, inscribing Buddhist texts as well as abstract design motifs on the surfaces of his works. Yoon sees the creation ofbuncheong as a meditative process. Many of Yoon’s works feature surface decoration that alludes to the artist’s contemplation of nature.

LEE Kang Hyo

“The work of an artist reflects his or her life. The temperament of a person is influenced by one’s natural environment. When one travels, mountains like the folds of a screen endlessly stretch, enabling one to be in awe of the essence of nature. The constant theme in my work is based on this marvel of nature. Everything that exists has its own reason and beauty. Molding clay with my hands and then painting white slip over the surface is an expression of my dream and my existence at that moment. Finding life’s meaning is a task that is too vast and confusing. It is a struggle and confliction to find the inner self. Life is not that exceptional nor does it contain some great meaning. Yet existence itself is precious and beautiful. Making art is like escaping to find peace of mind.”

“On the throwing wheel, a concentric circle is made, and then numerous different circular shapes are created. Through this clay, a space and a mass are created. This space contains my life. It is I. There is joy in taking a deep breath and viewing mountains; life is definitely worthwhile just for the fact that I am able to see and exist. I take joy in making things that can be looked at and appreciated. My work is an expression of everything that exists. It is my life itself.

—Lee Kang Hyo
(b. 1961 in Incheon, Korea)

Lee started his exploration of Korean ceramics while creatingonggi wares, the breathable pots that contain specifically soy sauce andgimchi. He later expanded his interests intobuncheong, innovative ceramics produced during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Korea. His style is inspired by forms found in nature, and he uses carving and white slip techniques to extract and define those muses. While the profiles of Lee’s intimatebuncheongwares are restrained within appropriate proportions, his decorative techniques create dramatic variations, which are playful and suggestive. Based on the common buncheongfactor, the diverse way of white slip applications—some with more iron pigments, some applied on different surfaces, and others with varied thickness—suggest their own identities within the common denominator.

Lee Kang Hyo graduated from Hongik University in Seoul, Korea, and then spent a few years studying the production of onggi wares. His works were featured in 2011 at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco during the special exhibition, Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art.

PARK Young Sook

“Creating a Moon Jar may appear relatively easy at a passing glance because of its simple design. In reality, it is far from easy. The beauty of a Moon Jar comes from the simple contour of the jar, which is reminiscent of the full moon. It is difficult to work on a large scale using clay that is designed for white porcelains due to its lack of viscosity. A large Moon Jar is made by uniting two symmetrical bowls at their largest points. Melding two bowls together is a painstaking process and even when done perfectly does not ensure that the jar will withstand the high temperature of the kiln. The process requires a great deal of patience. Only one out of ten jars survives the kiln and hardens into a satisfactory shape. The imperfect Moon Jars are destroyed.”

“From the beginning, I expected that the journey would entail considerable sacrifice. Looking back, however, I have gained more than I have given up. In fact, the challenge itself was a once in a lifetime experience that has taught me important life lessons. Although the project intimidated me at first, I enjoyed every minute of the process once I had started.”

—Park Young Sook
(b. 1947 in Gyeongju city, Gyeongsang province, Korea)

Park Young Sook appreciates the traditions of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) for its ideals of structure and modesty. For over twenty years, Park’s focus lay in mastering the Joseon “moon jar,” known for its harmonious form and pure white color, but Park pushes its limits by expanding its size. Most recently, in the 2012 Eighteenth Biennale of Sydney, Park displayed her large-scale Moon Jars together with artist Yeesookyung’s Translated Vase-the moon.

Park’s eye for the aesthetics of whitewares was enhanced by a collaboration with renowned Korean-Japanese painter, Lee Ufan (b. 1936), when she applied his minimalistic designs to her simple ceramic wares. She strives to create new contemporary works from traditional methods, including the use of cobalt and the stamped floral design seen on objects displayed in this exhibition. The large plate with abstract designs in cobalt interprets Korean wrapping cloth patterns onto ceramics. Park’s nesting bowls utilize the traditional stamped technique found in Joseon buncheong wares. Park’s versatility in handling clay and glaze allows her to replicate and further interpret traditional Korean ceramics.

ROE Kyung Jo

“I classify my ceramics from small to big works chronologically. The fish series, the smallest ceramic works, have rhythmical lines like the bodies of swimming fish in the sea. I also tried to describe swimming fish and changes under the ocean through different colors using colored-slip, iron glaze, and cobalt matte glaze. For the bottle series, I used the yeollimun technique to present how red and white clay changes on the surface. Applying this skill, I was able to create textures like those of comb-pattern pottery or murals of the Neolithic period. Using the ash glaze on the surface and the iron glaze inside, I tried to show a contrast of inside and out. Also, my yeollimun bottles emphasize straight lines to show changes of patterns, glaze, and texture while traditional yeollimun vessels have curved and smooth lines. I used a spinning wheel for the yeollimun jars and applied the eopdaji technique, which connects the top and bottom parts of a ceramic when fired. This technique was used for traditional Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) moon jars or onggi.”

“My buncheong works try to show the changing forest from the Spring through Autumn by using the Joseon buncheong technique. I was motivated by the birch forest where the trees come into leaf in Spring, and fall in Autumn. Through the white-slip and overlapped glaze, my buncheong represents changes of clay, glaze, and even fire. My work is part of my everyday surroundings as well as my life.”

—Roe Kyung Jo
(b. 1951 in Seoul, Korea)

Roe was inspired by the elaborate techniques and beauty of Goryeo (918–1392) celadons as well as the stylish forms and pure color of Joseon (1392–1910) whitewares. Using the geometrical shapes of the Joseon dynasty and the intricate techniques of Goryeo celadon, Roe creates playful and animated forms. His ceramics provoke the imagination of viewers with suggestive shapes of animals, such as his Fish series, and also of nature, as seen in his Birch Forest series. Roe’s interests lie primarily in stoneware, particularly in buncheong ceramics (white-slipped stoneware), which flourished during the fifteenth century. His aptness for surface treatment is reflected in each work. The artist’s trademark technique is yeollimun or marbling, which was traditionally used in Goryeo celadon. Roe uses yeollimun on different types of stoneware, giving an effect of movement in his ceramics.

KOO Bohnchang

“In 1989, I encountered a small photo in a book that enlightened me to appreciate the beauty of Korean whitewares. I used to disregard them in museums. In the photo, a famous Austrian potter, Lucie Rie, is sitting next to a Joseon whiteware. I was moved by the huge, voluminous sensitivity and round and smooth line of the whiteware. At the same time, I felt strongly the sorrow of the ceramics from its flesh-like white surface and scratched marks that accumulated over time on it. It seemed that the whiteware came up to me and was waiting for me. Fifteen years later, I finally got to work on the vessel project.”

“Whitewares were holding their breath and shyly waiting inside museum storages or display cases. I approached them as if I took portraits of each individual human being. I hope that the ceramics in my photography can be seen as vessels with souls, beyond being a mere ceramic, containing its makers’ spirit and our minds.”

—Koo Bohnchang
(b. 1953 in Seoul, Korea)

Koo Bohnchang graduated with a degree in business administration in Korea, but later studied photography in Hamburg, Germany, where he discovered his passion. In Korea, photography was largely considered for documentary purposes, but Koo made strong efforts to recognize it as an art form. In his vessel series, Koo captures the lives of whitewares through his lens and conveys them into a two-dimensional art form. His museological documentation of Joseon white ceramics leads viewers to look at actual ceramics with new perspectives; they illuminate the forms of the vessels more than can be seen through the naked eye. His photographs play with the harmony between presentation and representation.

Vessel  2014
Koo Bohnchang (b. 1953)
1-Channel Video (4:11)
Courtesy of the artist

This video art is newly created for the exhibition. As a photographer, Koo Bohnchang experiments with this work to capture both his refined photography as well as the diversity of ceramics. The artist allows viewers to appreciate the simple lines of Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) whitewares; in fact, contemporary artists and connoisseurs have particularly praised the pure, clean forms of the porcelain made several hundred years ago.

The vessels featured in the video are from several museums, including the Asian Art Museum, and are transmuted from three-dimensional to two-dimensional art forms. Koo has always been drawn to the living qualities found in whiteware. His video goes one step further and brings out those qualities, making the vessels seem alive. There is a subtle transition between each piece that contemplates the relation of functionality, transformative aspects, and artistic creativity. A surreal presentation of white ceramics compels viewers to reflect on the concepts behind the ceramics themselves.

YEEsookyung

“Translated Vases is a series of works that are reconstructed and rebuilt. I took ceramic fragments from a ceramic master who reproduces ceramics in the way of the Joseon dynasty style of the eighteenth century. Ceramic masters destroy the ones that are deemed to be under-qualified according to their own standards. Originally, the ceramic masters were trying to make perfect works of art. But what I’m trying to do is literally ‘translating’ the work by collecting the pieces of broken vases and mending their ‘wounds.’”

“I am really interested in things that are broken, deserted, and have failed. Because I believe that it is the turning point of art to be reborn. I do not set a certain plan to make the vases into a particular shape. I always try to focus on the moment of matching each piece, not thinking about the result. A broken ceramic piece finds another piece and relies on each other. The crack, which symbolizes the wound, is emphasized with the gild. This work is a metaphor of a struggle for life that makes people become more mature and beautiful as they overcome sufferings.”

—Yeesookyung
(b. 1963 in Seoul, Korea)

Potters search for a perfect form, rejecting pieces that do not meet their criteria. Even in traditional Korean kiln sites, the ground is covered with unwanted shards. Yeesookyung gathers broken fragments of discarded ceramics by contemporary potters and mends them together with gold. In Korean, the word gold (geum) is ironically a homonym for the word crack (geum). Particularly in the early twentieth century, collectors and connoisseurs would repair cracked ceramics using gold. Yee’s rendition of this skill creates layers of history and of translations in approaching art and tradition. Inspired by the poet Kim Sang-Ok’s Ode to White Porcelain, which remarks upon the pure perfection of white ceramics, Yee works with shattered, irregular fragments to create new perfection. With free forms, unexpected shapes of intimate sculptures are created, and earlier neglected shards suddenly come to life and become meaningful.

Yeesookyung graduated with both a BFA and MFA in painting at Seoul National University. Yet her range of work is vast. She gained recognition in 2011 with her performance and installation titled, “Dazzling Kyobangchoom,” where she paired a traditional Korean dance performance under a reconstruction of Seoul Station’s chandelier. Later that year, her intriguing and playful re-translation of the ceramic tradition was displayed in San Francisco at the Asian Art Museum.