from now through november 21, 2020, massimo de carlo’s london gallery presents a solo exhibition by korean artist yeesookyung, highlighting the rich practice she has developed over the last two decades. titled I am not the only one but many, the exhibition presents the artist’s most well-known series, ‘translated vase’, where delicate shapes have been created out of discarded ceramic fragments. the series has its origins in a 2001 visit to one of the modern masters of korean pottery where, upon witnessing the potter destroying vases deemed flawed in their pursuit of perfection, yeesookyung recuperated the broken shards and reconfigured the fragments into bulbous and deeply personal forms. the artist intervenes by seaming together the fragments with epoxy delicately covered in 24-carat gold leaf — a process akin to the centuries-old japanese art of kintsugi — thus creating simultaneously voluptuous yet fragile works.
coinciding with her exhibition at massimo de carlo, designboom spoke with yeesookyung about the preservation of traditional korean ceramics, and the narratives she seeks to translate through forgotten fragments.
October 8, 2020
