In Korea ‘Bibimbap’ is the name of a dish, it means ‘mixed meal’. In art, Korean American video artist Nam June Paik gave the same name to his process of making: to mix to create new.
Yeesookyung puts together the pieces of vases deemed failures by perfectionist ceramic master Park Young-Sook in a series called Translated Vases. In mending the wounds of smashed ceramics, Yeesookyung does not disguise the cracks but highlights them in shimmering gild. The reformed ceramic works represent a beauty acquired through overcoming suffering. Yeesookyung acknowledges a beauty that comes only with maturing.
Image courtesy the artist and GALLERY HYUNDAI, Seoul
Park Young-Sook’s twelve moon jars symbolize twelve months of the year and the endless cycle and repetition of nature. Each jar, with individual effeminate curves, stands facing Yeesookyung’s matriarchal Translated Vase; like the young looking to the old, their surfaces smooth and perfect like new skin. In the making of countless moon jars, ParkYoung-Sook has seen many explode and break apart, and considers this process not dissimilar to the way harsh conditions breakdown and bring together the collective spirits of humankind.
Image courtesy the artist and GALLERY HYUNDAI, Seoul
Photography: Ben Symons