{"id":40042,"date":"2024-03-29T15:59:26","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T06:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/?post_type=insights&p=40042"},"modified":"2024-03-29T16:08:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T07:08:43","slug":"dark-and-fiery-cold-and-shiny","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/insights\/40042","title":{"rendered":"Dark and Fiery, Cold and Shiny"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kim Syyoung, William Lee<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Installation View of ‘Dark and Fiery, Cold and Shiny at GalleryMEME<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe worship of beauty takes precedence, dangerously, over morality, facts, usefulness, sense, and, as far as possible, reality itself.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Master<\/strong>\u2019s \u2018Work\u2019 (\u4f5c\u696d)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Kim Syyoung, Planet TL_1, 555x490mm, 1350\u02daC reduction firing, 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

Both black ceramics and silver object are classified as craft. While such a classification has lost its meaning in this age and time, I believe that the labels of \u2018ceramist\u2019 and \u2018metalsmith\u2019 serve Kim Syyoung and William Lee, respectively, better than the generic term \u2018artist\u2019. For, the labels, I insist, not only show less influence from the Western modernism that calls everyone \u2018artists\u2019 but also reflect our tradition in craft that denotes a connotation of \u2018artisan\u2019 or \u2018meister\u2019.<\/p>\n

Craft is essentially a labor-intensive work that penetrates the essence of the material. \u201cThe worship of beauty\u201d, quoted above, is merely what follows. Most of the terms related to craft or art come from borrowed words from Chinese or follow Japanese orthography based on Chinese letters. For example, let us take a look at the word \u4f5c\u696d which is directly connected to the idea of craftsmanship.<\/p>\n

If we are to directly translate the Chinese word \u4f5c\u696d into Korean, we could perhaps say \u2018to make things\u2019; there are, of course, deeper and wider connotations to the nuance of this word. The letter \u696d might as well be translated to \u2018life\u2019 itself given its uses in Chinese language. And indeed, the most common association that Korean speakers have with the word \u696d would be \u2018work\u2019. Here, \u2018work\u2019 signifies a sense of labor that employs both our body and our mind. A \u2018labor of body and mind\u2019, then, connects to our \u2018occupation\u2019 and the act of \u2018making a living\u2019. To act on \u2018\u696d\u2019, therefore, marks the\u00a0beginning<\/em>\u00a0of our \u2018life\u2019 and is inevitably connected to the notions of \u2018origin, basis, or beginning\u2019, of which societal implications bear resemblance to religion or ethics. As we see in examples of \u2018\u696d\u5831\u2019 (roughly, Karma) or \u2018\u56e0\u679c\u61c9\u5831\u2019 (roughly, a just punishment or recompense), \u2018\u696d\u2019 constitutes a sense of the struggle between right and wrong, and good and bad.<\/p>\n

This etymological divergence is to emphasize how Kim Syyoung and William Lee take the actions and thoughts of craft as \u2018work\u2019 (and hence \u2018labor\u2019) before declaring any occupational or vocational connection to being \u2018artists\u2019. That is to say, these two masters<\/em>\u00a0assert their \u2018occupation\u2019 not through obtaining a degree, for example, but by committing to their \u2018job\u2019 and by \u2018making a living\u2019 for themselves and their families. Simplified, not only is the confidence of these two professional craftspeople imbued into the word of \u2018\u4f5c\u696d\u2019, but also the consciously chosen \u2018vividness\u2019 of both anguish and euphoria as craftspeople that equate \u2018\u696d\u5831\u2019 (karma) eventually become their \u2018works\u2019. While such properties of their artistic endeavor lead to the production of works that belong to a wholly artistic realm, it is a shame that \u2018reality\u2019, with its capitalistic irony, prioritizes \u2018result\u2019 over \u2018process\u2019 and hence values \u2018marketability\u2019 of the work. That is to say that the problem of aesthetic judgment and evaluation of the artistic commitment to their \u2018works\u2019 is not solely in the hands of the artists but at the mercy of the audience.<\/p>\n

2. Kim Syyoung\u2019s Black Ceramics<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Kim Syyoung, Planet TXS_4, (h)210X180mm, 1300\u02daC reduction firing, 2016<\/em><\/p>\n

Recently, craft, too, pursues the abstract that we find in monochrome painting following its resurgence. More specifically, as the \u2018moon jar\u2019 located itself as the iconic aesthetic\u00a0objet<\/em>\u00a0that represents South Korea, craft began to exhibit a tendency to represent the abstract in connection to its tradition. With such a tendency, craft was distanced from its inherent function and started pursuing concepts of painting and sculpture (what we consider to be the two mainstream genres of art), aesthetics, and decorativeness, eventually leading to the point where we are comfortable calling these two masters \u2018artists\u2019.<\/p>\n

It is my contention that craft\u2019s function remains the same despite the change in the epoch, and that its everyday-life-ness must be discussed along with its beauty. In other words, one does not need a painting on a wall to be able to sustain one\u2019s life, but a plate is a necessary condition for one to sustain a human life. Some might dismiss my view on the basis that craft, too, is gratuitous for the sustenance of life, but the point that I am raising here is that craft\u2019s inherent functions are increasingly blurred these days.<\/p>\n

The aesthetic of \u2018\u674e\u671d\u2019 white porcelain (\u674e\u671d\u00a0is an archaic term for Joseon), made popular again by the recent resurgence of the monochrome painting, can be said to be the extension of our tradition that is unfortunately trapped within the Confucian ethics and its perceptive limits. The representation of the tradition should be a kind of representation that, transcending beyond mere mimesis, steps into the realm of \u2018transformation\u2019 that carries its\u00a0zeitgeist<\/em>. The criteria with which we assess craft\u2019s functionality and beauty should, so I argue, pertain to that realm of \u2018transformation\u2019.<\/p>\n

Kim Syyoung\u2019s black ceramics works, too, are not free from the aesthetic of monochrome painting, as they employ a black monochrome. However, Kim Syyoung\u2019s ceramics works aim at a transformation as a sculptural lump of\u00a0volume and mass without paying respect to the functionality of a \u2018jar\u2019 while maintaining the black tone. How are we to make of this unique transformation? A postmodern\u00a0zeitgeist?<\/em>\u00a0Or an aberration that defies the monotony of work process and form? Or a dangerous worship of beauty as Oscar Wilde explains? In any event, Kim Syyoung\u2019s transformation is scintillating. It draws attention to not only her next project but also to the configuration of black monochrome.<\/p>\n

3. Silver object by William Lee<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

William Lee, moon, \u00f838xh37cm, silver<\/em><\/p>\n

The ingredient for the \u2018moon jar\u2019 is a \u2018silver plate\u2019. By forging a flat, literal silver plate, the metalsmith crafts a jar. The color and form of the jar resemble the moon, thus giving it its name.<\/p>\n

Silver is white. This is why we sometimes call it \u2018\u767d\u9280\u2019 (literally \u2018white silver\u2019). Silver is softer than other metals which makes it an excellent ingredient for forging. And because of its surface that reflects most of the light, it shines the brightest among metal. Such properties have put silver on a pedestal in both the East and the West. Its shiny surface, moreover, has associated silver with the Moon, thus recurring in symbols or myths related to it. The value of the material has been recognized from as early as ancient times when plates for religious rituals or upper-class cutlery preferred silver as its \u2018fancy\u2019 ingredient. Europeans, in particular the 16th<\/sup>-century England, have put so much value on well-crafted silverware that they are considered antique now. For William Lee whose critical acclaim began in England and not his native Korea, such history can be particularly meaningful.<\/p>\n

Silver (\u9280) was more valuable than gold (\u91d1)\u00a0at times. I believe that\u2019s why we call banks\u00a0\u2018\u9280\u884c\u2019 and not \u2018\u91d1\u884c\u2019. The etymology of the Chinese word for bank (\u9280\u884c) comes from the time of the silver standard. There can be many ingredients to craft a \u2018jar\u2019. For example, even painting, photography, or videography can be used, in this age of abstract art, to create an image of a jar as efficiently as metal. However, as the symbol and value of silver suggest, one can argue that William Lee has taken the initiative on a pricey yet valuable material to start his main game more luxuriously.<\/p>\n

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William Lee, dok, \u00f831xh41cm, silver<\/em><\/p>\n

William Lee says to have been inspired by the natural, organic phenomena such as \u201cflowing, melting, or freezing\u201d. The manifestation of such inspiration resembles, both formally and stylistically, the representations of textures appearing on the surface of the \u2018moon jar\u2019. While it is evident that the metalsmith must have been immersed with both his body and mind during the restless hammering of the plate, the texture that appears on the surface is a product of accident that takes place in the random strikes with varying degrees of strength. However, it is the randomness and the abstraction of the part of the texture (and the entire surface that is a series of such textures) that makes the audience want to feel and touch the \u2018jar\u2019. In addition, our visual perception will associate the surface with the sentiment of \u2018flowing\u2019 that, in turn, creates a reproduction of one\u2019s life that transcends spatiotemporal boundaries and leads our imagination.<\/p>\n

In this sense, the appeal of \u2018moon jar\u2019 is twofold. One, the past-oriented sentiment that the mixture of \u2018Moon\u2019 and \u2018jar\u2019 creates, and two, the sentiment of contemporary art related to abstraction. It is my contention that such characteristics of the \u2018moon jar\u2019 will eventually converge and create discourses related to the formal and aesthetic discussion of the monochrome painting. This is also noticeable in the retro taste of the contemporary art scene that focuses on monochrome painting. At the same time, can we imagine William Lee without silver as his main material and main element for the \u2018transformation\u2019 as I discussed earlier?<\/p>\n

I see the project of this exhibition as a convergence of two master craftspeople whose colors of \u2018black and white\u2019 are contrasted. While they might use different materials, the monochrome aesthetic that these materials emanate shows a dialectic harmony between them. The audience will surely feel the subtle yet certain attraction of the works that these two masters pronounce.<\/p>\n

Jeong Young Mok (Professor Emeritus, SNU)<\/p>\n

GalleryMEME
\n3, Insadong 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul
\n+82 2 733 8877<\/p>\n

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