Profile 15 YOO EUIJEONG By Ambika Rajgopal


South Korean artist Yoo Euijeong (b 1981) examines the effect of consumerism on society. Trough the traditional medium of ceramic, he examines the ubiquitous presence of brands that flooded post-1988 Olympic Korea and that have found their way into the artist’s works. Yoo received a BFA and MFA specialising in ceramics from Hong-Ik University, Seoul, in 2006 and 2010 respectively. His works offer a commentary on the social effects of materialism, and his works can be seen in the exhibition Contemporary Korean Ceramics at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, until 28 February, 2018. Te exhibition brings together the works of 15 emerging and established ceramicists, who each tackle the medium in their own unique way. Te artist discusses his work with Asian Art Newspaper below.


Be Dyed (2011), celadon, 31 x 30 x 55 cm


AAN: You often use anachronistic signifiers in your works to create a warped temporality that shifts between the past, present and future. How and what do you hope to achieve through this? YE: I associate my works with cultural and social conventions through time accumulation and mix available modes and research data from all around the world. I agonise about what I can do with things I already have, and am concerned with how I can create meaning out of major references in my daily life. In one work Fantasia-Starbucks, part of the Regeneration series, I copied the motif of the flying crane and clouds seen in Goryeo celadon and overlaid it with the iconic Starbucks logo. Trough my work, the auspicious crane symbol is replaced with a ubiquitous consumer brand. In this sense, my work attempts to grasp cultural codes, modes of life and global inheritance and to have them work properly.


AAN: You approach a very traditional medium rather irreverently, playing with symbolisms and meanings associated with global capitalism. Can your work be seen as a critique, or a celebration of the culture of the times? YE: I often recreate contemporary images and symbols using traditional methods such as baking clay in a kiln. In my view, because ceramics have been placed in museums in a state of permanence, it is a ‘record’. In my youth, I lived near the National Museum of Korea in Seoul, and luckily I had many chances to visit it. My ceramic works commemorate and record things just like the antiquities in the museum. It would be down to the interpretation of the viewers whether they wish to see my works as a critique or a celebration.


AAN: Although this form of ceramic art is uniquely Eastern, the


Fantasia-Starbucks, Regeneration series, celadon, FRP, hologram, 22 x 22 x 40 cm


signifiers you embellish them with are omnipresent making the works more accessible. Was this a way of enabling the traditional medium of ceramic to be seen in a more contemporary and relatable light? YE: Ceramic is a relatively primitive medium that has accompanied the history of man and is still around us today forming an integral part of our cultural history. It is an art form that many people still practise in their personal life. Also, ceramic as a medium has been contemporised by European ceramic factories, kiln sites, and studios. For me, ceramic is not just a container, but also an important vessel to store the stream of consciousness. My work is about materialising the spirit of the medium, not to contemporise the medium itself.


AAN: Your practice seems to be straddled between dichotomies: between past and present, east and west, tradition and materialism, life and death. Te marriage between the traditional and the contemporary is something that is often explored by artists of our times. How do you view these dichotomies and what enables you to explore this through your artistic practice? YE: Yes, my work embraces dichotomies and through them I want to remind people that we are suspended in time and space for only one lifetime, unlike ceramic works,


Yoo Euijeong working in his studio. All images courtesy of the artist


I WANT TO REMIND PEOPLE THAT WE ARE SUSPENDED IN TIME AND SPACE FOR ONLY ONE LIFE TIME, UNLIKE CERAMIC WORKS WHICH LAST FOR MANY GENERATIONS


which stand the test of time by lasting many generations. It is easy for people to be fooled by


my works. Tey may wonder if the works were made in the past or present or whether they are authentic works of art or mere replicas. As time goes by, the work becomes antiquated and people realise how the relic is created is a matter of time and space. When the works are exhibited in the museum, they become popular icons of the past. My works are about coexistence of time and space, beyond the dichotomies. I started to explore this medium


because of my familiarity with antiques; my home was located near the Gyeongbokgung Palace, where I spent most of my childhood. I was especially fond of the National Museum of Korea that housed many antiques and artefacts that I yearned for. Among the antiques, ceramic seemed to persevere without a hint of decay, owing to the strength of the earth, and hence survived for hundreds and thousands of years. Living between past and future, the medium seemed everlasting, hovering between time and space. It was only then that I really started to deliberate on the medium.


Ego (2010), ceramic, 39 x 39 x 90 cm, currently on show in the Contemporary Korean Ceramics at the V&A, London


AAN: In a way, you are elevating consumer brands to the status of art that are placed in museums and become objects to behold. Does this allude to the deep penetration of consumerism all around us,


including in museums and cultural institutions? YE: As mentioned above, my ceramic works are a ‘record’. Traditional patterns like cranes and flowers on ceramics originate from a time in history when royal families bought expensive ceramic works believing that these symbols would bring them longevity and success. I inscribe popular brands onto my ceramic works that are considered representative of consumer culture today. Straddling past, present, and future, my work would eventually turn into a relic. Te viewers in the future may interpret my works in a similar manner as we speculate about antique ceramic works in the museum.


AAN: Your work is a pastiche where different materials such as bronze, iron and mirror wilfully accept common cultural signifiers. Does it reference the heterogeneous nature of our existence? YE: As long as time continues to run, nothing remains original and lasting. My work evolves by mixing different materials to get rid of the limits of time and space. It also moves forward to a new cultural platform where many different moral and formal concerns exist. Indeed, my work references the heterogeneous nature of our existence, but it also continues to develop by crossing over various traditions and time periods.


NOVEMBER 2017 ASIAN ART


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