CV

Education
MFA in Ceramics, Kookmin University, Seoul
BFA in Ceramics, Kookmin University, Seoul

Solo Exhibitions
2018 Bun-cheong-hwa, Gallery Daunjae, Ulsan
2016 Staccato, KSD Gallery, Seoul
2015 Peony Garden, Place J, Seoul
2013 Huh Sangwook Solo Exhibition, Only Gallery, Seoul
2012 Balance, Wanmul, Seoul
2009 Huh Sangwook Solo Exhibition, Sikijang Gallery, Seoul
2007 Buncheong, Tongin Gallery, Seoul
2007 Bunjanghoechoeng, Sikijang Gallery, Seoul
2001 Monochrome, KCDF Gallery, Seoul
1999 Huh Sangwook Solo Exhibition, Kyungin Museum of Art, Seoul

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019 COLLECT, Saatch Gallery, London
2018 Banquet: Opulence in Grace and Palate, Cheongwadae Sarangchae, Seoul
Gagarye(家家禮): Family Tradition of Ancestral Ritual, Areumjigi, Seoul
The Power of [Extra]Ordinary, KCDF Gallery, Seoul
法古創新, Lkate Gallery, Seoul
Archaic Naivety: Lee Dongsik & Huh Sangwook, Gallery Cheongdam, Seoul
2017 Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadephia, PA, USA
Coveted Beauty, G-Ceramic Fair Thematic Exhibition, AT Center, Seoul
Maison & Objet, Paris Nord Villepinte, Paris, France
Liberal Spirit in Buncheong, Clayarch Gimhae Museum, Gimhae
Craft Climax, Gyeonggi Museum of Art, Ansan
Memory: Reflecting on Life, 9th GICBiennale, Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum, Gwangju
Tableware Proposed by Three Artists, Dorothy Salon, Seoul
2016 One Summer Day’s Repose, National Folk Museum, Seoul
2015 Resonance of Traditional Color: Traditional East Asian Ceramic Art, Gyeonggi Ceramics Museum, Gwangju
Cheonggju Craft Biennale, Cheonggju
KOREA NOW, Les Arts décoratifs, Paris, France
Korea-China Engobe Exhibition, Korean Culture Center, Beijing, China
Traditional Alcoholic Beverages With Side Dishes, Arumjigi Foundation
2014 The Tea, Healing and Joy, Gyeonggi Museum
Dignity of Korean Dinning, Mugunghwa, Lotte Hotel Seoul
Take the Old, Creat the New, Maison Le Beige, Seoul
2013 Vessles, Youngam Pottery Museum, Youngam
Hidden Match-An Exhibition of Korea Craft, National Museum of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh
Tasteful Dishes & Tasty Dishes, Icheon Ceramic Festival, Icheon
Taeseongojip : Will for the Good, Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum
2012 China-Korea Ceramic Art Exhibition, Longquan Celadon Museum, China
Contermporary Munbang with 10 Ceramisits, Wanmul, Seoul
Elegance of Qutodien, Lotte Gallery, Busan
Beautiful Vessels, Cheongdam Gallery, Seoul
2011 Korea-China Ceramics, Gyeonggi International Ceramics Biennale, Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum, Gwnagju
Korean Cearmics, Buncheong Exhibition, Musée Ariana, Geneva, Switzerland
Ceramic Space, Doosan Art Square, Seoul
2010 1001 Cups : Journey of Contemporary Ceramics, Icheon, Guangzhou, Pqris, Roubaix, Geneva, La Chaux-de-fonts
Beautiful Vessels, Yido Gallery, Seoul
2009 Beopgochangshin : Innovation from Tradition, Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum, Gwangju
Kim Sangman & Huh Sangwook, Song House Gallery
Blue and White Porcelain of the 21^th Century, World Ceramic Biennale Korea, Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum, Gwangju
2008 Byukkwan : Facing the Wall, Gana Art Space, Seoul
Korean Crafts, Icheon International Airport Traditional Craft Gallery, Incheon
Yangpyeong Eco Art Festival, Yangpyeong Art Museum, Yangpyeong
Lidded Boxes, Gallery Ssamzie, Seoul
Tradition and Modernity of Korean Ceramics, Icheon World Ceramic Center, Icheon
2007 Beautiful Korean Ceramics, Joseon Royal Kiln Museum, Gwangju
Contemporary Ceramics, Wooduk Gallery
Discovery of Gyeonggi Ceramics, Icheon World Ceramic Center, Icheon
Korea Crafts Council Exhibition, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul
2006 Japanese and Korean Ceramics of the 20th Century, Bonhams Auction, London
Traditional Yet Contemporary, The Air Gallery, London
Identity of Korean Crafts, Daegu Art Center, Daegu
Kim Gyutae & Huh Sangwook, Cheongbaek Gallery, Daegu
2005 Ceramics with Nature : Traditional Korean Ceramics, World Ceramic Biennale Korea, Joseon Royal Kiln Museum, Gwangju
Ceramic House II, World Ceramic Biennale Korea, World Livingware Gallery, Yeoju
The Scent of Ceramics, Tongin Galery, Seoul
2004 Korean Tea Cultre and Tea Ware, Icheon World Ceramic Center, Icheon
Contemporay Korean Ceramics, International House, Osaka
Inaugural Exhibition, Han Hyang Lim Gallery
Buncheong Ware Exhibition, Monticello Gallery
2003 Korean Ceramics Exhibition, World Ceramic Biennale Korea, Joseon Royal Kiln Museum, Gwangju
Beautiful Solongos, Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery, Ulaanbaatar
Korean Crafts Council Exhibition, Hangaram Museum of Art, Seoul Arts Center
2002 From Joseon : Aesthetics of Contemporary White Porcelain and Bucheong, Joseon Royal Kiln Museum, Gwangju
Present, Ceramic Yo
Incense, Korea Craft & Design Foundation, Seoul
Friends on Desk, Korea Craft & Design Foundation, Seoul
Lee Dongsik Lee & Huh Sangwook Huh Ceramic Exhibition, Korea Craft & Design Foundation, Seoul
2001 World Ceramic Exposition Korea, Gwangju Joseon Royal Kiln Museum, Gwangju
Image of Korea Exhibition, New Zealand
Living and Culture Exchange, Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Saga, Japan
Indoor Space, Gallery Chang, Seoul
Bukak Ceramists Exhibition, Gana Art Space, Seoul
2000 The State Museum of Oriental Art, 10 Years Anniversary Exhibition of Diplomatic Relations between South Korea and Russia, Moscow, Russia
Summer Plates, Craft House, Seoul
Dorak - Pots, MIZ Gallery, Seoul
1999 Ceramic and Orchid, COEX, Seoul
Korea’s Best Artists Exhibition, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul
Jeonwon Gallery Inaugural Exhibition, Jeonwon Gallery, Ganghwa
2021C, Dukwon Gallery, Seoul
Life Aesthetic – Craft and Design, Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul
Yangpyeong Art Museum Inaugural Exhibition, Yangpyeong Art Museum, Yangpyeong
Namseoul University Professors’ Exhibition, Namseoul University, Cheonan
1998 Korea Contemporary Craft 30, Chohyung Gallery, Seoul
Huh Sangwook & Jeong Jaeim Duo Show, Moonermi Gallery, Yangpyeong
1997 Pottery pleasure “Black” exhibition, Ewho Gallery, Seoul
1996 Young Artists Association Inaugural Exhibition, Dukwon Gallery, Seoul

Public Collections
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Musée Ariana, Geneva
National Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw, Poland
Gyeonggi Ceramic Museu, Gwangju
Icheon World Ceramic Center, Icheon
World Livingware Gallery, Yeoju
Kookmin University, Seoul
Han Hyang Lim Onggi Museum, Paju
Baesangmyun Brewery Co., Ltd.

Awards/Grants (selected)
2006 Special Prize, Beautiful Korean Ceramics Competition, World Ceramic Biennale Korea
Honorable Mention, Toya Tableware Competition
2005 Honorable Mention in Crafts, Grand Art Exhibition of Korea
Special Prize, International Competition, World Ceramic Biennale Korea
2004 Honorable Mention, Beautiful Korean Ceramics Competition, World Ceramic Biennale Korea
2003 Honorable Mention, International Competition, World Ceramic Biennale Korea

Workshop
Buncheong Seminar, Fondation Bruckner, Geneva

Lectures
Seoul Women’s University, Kookmin University

Staccato: Variations of Sensation

by Moon Yujin (Independent Curator and Writer)

Memories remain with us as images, that are, those that invisible to the eye and ungraspable by the hand. As a memory, once stored, goes through continuous repetition within the mind, it may chip away bit-by-bit, become blurred by another memory, or led to distortion while becoming muddled with new memories. Memories, whose essence are no longer discernable through perception, are, more or less, traces of previous sensations. At times, when one coincidentally encounters a stimulation similar to that of a prior experience, he/she may be able to vividly recall a sensation that had been recorded in the past. Music that one heard while traveling may revive sensations of the air or sunlight of the particular occasion; the scent of a stranger that one passed by on the street may suddenly arouse a fuzzy feeling from deep within. However, such are only momentary revivals of sensational fragments, and therefore, never tangible.

The buncheong works of Huh Sangwook attempt to revive such traces of sensations into objects or phenomena, that is, something substantial. By referring to personal memories and the original form of buncheong, the artist gives tangibility to sensational experiences, characterized by an overlapping of the past and present. Peonies in full bloom in front of the studio; fish whose eyes were once met; air that is different by the day; sound of wind brushing against trees; a cup of tea shared with a friend; conversations that master potters (sagijang) of the Joseon dynasty shared with the matière of buncheongin the rhythm of scraping.

Traces of Sensation

The sgraffito technique, or bakji in Korean, is the formative language that essentially shapes the buncheong ware of Huh Sangwook. The layers of traces that are built upon the grey-bodied surface, through the repetition of scraping and covering, yield a uniquely deep texture and divergent patterns. Such repetitive motions of the hand and their traces are neither the results of a pre-set trajectory nor the visual reproduction of a particular object. Rather, they are a rhythm that the artist discovered by activating the inner sensations that had been stored within his personal experiences.

   Such activation can be understood through Richard Sennett’s idea of the “probing touch at the fingertips.” In order to produce an accurate pitch on a string instrument, one must rightfully place his fingertips on the fingerboard on positions that are not easily discernible by the eye. When learning to play a string instrument, we grope around for the exact position while listening to the sound, and sound is thus remembered together with the feeling of the fingertips against the strings. The touch at the fingertips becomes the guide to accurate finger sensibility. [1]

     In the same way, during the act of scratching, the sensitization on the fingertips, its pressures, depth, and rhythm define the manual expressions to follow, that is, the characteristics of the sgraffito expressions. Within these characteristics are embodied the artist’s sensations of fingertips. This builds upon the same principles as “touch is the arbiter of tone.” By repeating this act an infinite number of times, the artist continues his sensory conversations with clay and engobe, and during this process, the surface of his works is covered densely with rhythmical expressions, that are, at times, regular, and, at other times, irregular. In this way, the sensory traces of the artists are directly conveyed to us through the texture, form, thickness, and overall ambience of the works.

Staccato

     In the works of Huh Sangwook, memory is concretized on two different levels. While, on the one hand, the object of memory is visualized through the method of representing what has been experienced, on the other hand, sensation – as a subject recalling conversations with material matter, that is, the memory of the workings of the hand – obtains form through repetition, overlapping, and short movement. The Staccato series is a good revelation of such formative strata. This exhibition is a major showcase of the Staccato series, characterized by a rhythm created by the layering of the traces of sgraffito designs. An homage to “Buncheong Rice-Bales-Shaped Bottle”[2] produced during the Joseon Dynasty in the 15th century, the series features small, circular indentations – the characteristic expressions of the original work – rendered using the sgraffito, rather than the stamping technique. Here the hand motion to intricately scratch out the pattern is repetitive yet non-continuous. In this way, the artist plays in a staccato manner.

   “Staccato” – an Italian word meaning “detached” or “separated” – is better known to us as a musical articulation indicating “to play the notes in individual short, sharp bursts.” On scores, it is marked by a dot above the note. Huh’s new series of works features surfaces that have been scratched away with disconnected dots, as opposed to wide faces or drawings as in his previous works. The series is a representation of staccato – from the visual form of the pattern (consequence) to the rhythm between the scraping motion and the touch of the fingertips (process), and moreover the sounds created by the scraping of the engobe.

     On the piano, there are multiple ways to execute staccatos. It can be played solely by the finger for short, sharp notes with a bouncing effect; or by the movement of the wrist or entire arm to express greater depth as if pressing further down; or with a free and relaxed arm to snap against the keys with greater energy. Each of the three methods can be combined – controlling the movement of the fingers, wrist, arm, and shoulder in various ways – to express more delicate rhythm and richer textures. Staccatofeatures layers of such diverse range of textures and rhythms. Clay surface that has been scratched away is covered with white englobe then once again scraped away, leaving rough traces. The surface is then overlaid once again with a thick layer of englobe and occasionally with pigment, then yet again scratched away with sharp articulations, gently revealing the clay body. The traces of each of the different matiére and the hand movements come together as a single layer yet undergo variations, protruding and inflitrating, at times, in andante manner, and, at other times, allegro. From impromptu patterns produced by the instincts of the fingertips to the geometric designs, texture in itself, and the vague traces of the objects, the images of sensation, going beyond the fingertips of the artist, cover the surface of the works, coming together in harmony.

From Still-Life to Mindscapes

     Sgraffito drawings, a characteristic element of the buncheong works of Huh Sangwook, embody objects remembered by the artist. The drawings are projections of objects of affection that have been captured by the eye, as opposed to the fingertips. Unlike the Staccatoseries, in which sensational memories, in coming together with physical properties, have become works in themselves, the images of these “objects of affection” only attain their identity as memories of the artist’s personal experiences, that is, content of memories. In the pond situated within a garden filled with pansies, lotus, peonies, camellia, tea flowers, daffodils, and groundsels are fish swimming about against peonies in full bloom. Peonies are the artist’s primary motif, representing the origin of his buncheong work and the ultimate existence that allows him to reflect back on his artistic career. In this light, “objects of affection” are assemblages of objects of particular attachment or meaning. Natural landscapes or matter encountered and experienced in his daily life, mainly wild flowers, fish, wind, and the scenery on view from a half-open window, have long been subject matter for the artist, and on the occasion of this exhibition, he newly presents his Still-Life series featuring objects in his studio that have been arranged within a circular frame. Object such as table with a tea set, flower vase, and white porcelain vessel are not memento mori but rather items that reflect on life and living.[3] These objects, as they had in the life of the artist, are “forever” alive, embracing vitality within the englobe, circular dishes, and someone’s life.

   The exhibition showcases a wide variety of works ranging from small tableware to large objects dominating the energy of the space, including dishes for decorating walls, stool-like objects that can be placed in the living room or garden as decorative pieces or furniture, tea cups that add warmth to the conversations between loved ones, and wallplates that convey the strong vitality of peonies. Surrounded by these works of diverse size and scale, we awaken all our bodily senses and enter the memories of the artist.

*This essay was written for Huh Sangwook’s solo exhibition held at KSD Gallery in 2016, and has been translated into English by An Soyean.

See the exhibition view

[1] Sennett explains, “…the musician touches the string in different ways, hears a variety of effects, then searches for the means to repeat and reproduce the one he or she wants […] The principle here is reasoning backward from consequence to cause.” In other words, this is characterized by a cycle in which the sensation of the fingertips remembered through sound enables accurate finger positioning, and consequently, the accurate tone is remembered as sensation on the fingertips. Richard Sennett, The Craftsman (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 157.

[2] Treasure No. 1423. Collection of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art.

[3] Referred to as nature morte in French, “still-life,” within the European tradition of still-life paintings, literally embodies the notion of death and generally symbolizes vanitas. On the other hand, within Chinese and Korean (Joseon Dynasty) tradition, flower-and-vessel paintings (器皿折枝圖, Kr. gimyeongjeoljido), depicting rare antique vessels together with fruit or flowers, embodied wishes for health and happiness. The vessels related tea drinking or flower vessels depicted in the Still-Life series are objects that represent peaceful and pleasant moments, thus existences of life and living.

CV

Work Archive

Staccato: Variations of Sensation