Museum

From the Fire: Individual Directions

Today, Korea’s contemporary ceramic artists stand at a crossroads. Their reality questions whether to only follow Western tendencies or combine Western methods and techniques with Eastern ideology. An abundance of information is certainly a modern privilege, yet being open to infinite information sources can lead to confusion.

The influence of Western art theories has challenged Korea to discuss the language and visual communication in clay. In the West, artists are encouraged to explain their intention in their clay work, which is contrary to Eastern practice. Ceramic artists in the East, by custom, believe the artist has to immerse the self into clay for a pure end result. The work is not a conscious conclusion resulting from continuous planning and calculation, but rather a natural evolution. The contemporary Korean ceramicist continues to explore the possibilities of these seemingly contradictory approaches.

Despite differences in artistic approaches, clay provides a universal language in human aesthetics. The forms created by clay give us connection among cultures and hope. There is life and environment maintained in clay, captured by the creative sensibility of the artist. This is true in Korea and anywhere else there is clay art. It provides both a product and a process for developing culture.

—Cho, Chung Hyun, Curator