Sound of Innocence

‘Huh Sangwook’ Sound of Innocence

Soluna Fine Art is proud to present Huh Sangwook’s artworks as our third online exhibition. Huh Sangwook is an artist who uses the expressive technique of traditional buncheong* to create works with contemporary senses. The method of including surface design and applying the buncheong technique is the most important aspect of his work. Clay strips shaved and hanging from the tip of his knife, reminisce and reflect upon our lives. The rhythmical sounds made from Huh’s approaches are comparable to staccato touches in music. His works have staccatos of strokes, his drawings on the surface of white slip evokes the feeling of innocence and memories of childhood.

Huh Sangwook’s Buncheong is somewhat close to that of maquillage: putting a layer of a white cover on the surface and carving the motifs to create the noble and innocent look. From the ancient, Koreans considered white face as noble one as ancient Greek and Rome did. So they tried to make their face white regardless of their gender. Even men did make-up and Hwarang (elite warrior group of male youth in Silla) is the main representation of the custom.

• Buncheong is characterised by the use of a dark, iron bearing clay, white slip for decoration and a clear glaze. Decorations can be white slip brushed on, drawing through white slip to reveal the dark body, iron oxide pigments applied with a brush and other methods all employing white slip on the dark body.

Huh Sangwook, Potter |

Huh Sangwook was born in 1970 in South Korea. He mainly practises Buncheong, and is known for the animated motifs and the bakji sgraffito technique that has been central to his work.

The process seeks out for traces of the past while progressing to create new interpretations. It is as though he is trying to remember every minute and day that has gone by, while living the new today to the full.

His work has been selected for the Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum competition and it is collected by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; National Crafts Museum of India, New Delhi, India and the World Ceramic Center, Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea.