Jongjin Park
Lives and works in Seoul, South Korea
Meticulous, original, and unsettling : Jongjin Park's work immerses us in a fascinating meditative exploration. Wrapped in a mass of tissue paper that evokes either a mille-feuille or bundles of banknotes, the clay gets transformed during firing while the paper disappears forever. When observing one of his sculptures, it is almost impossible to believe that its construction support has completely vanished, so adept is the ceramic at preserving its texture and delicacy. With a distinctly Korean palette of pastel tones, Jongjin Park's ceramics imbue a unique poetry into a material that is otherwise eminently ordinary.
Jongjin Park is now a renowned artist for his exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of contemporary ceramics. A professor at Seoul Women’s University, he also exhibits in numerous galleries around the world.
His works challenge our perception of material. They take shape through the ability of paper to hold liquid clay, a slow, meticulous, and repetitive process. The resulting compositions, achieved through layering and modeling, feature rhythmic volumes in various colors, perfectly suited to the soft, pastel universe of the South Korean artist.
During firing, the paper used to shape the sculpture degrades, altering the material and leaving its mark. Although the original support disappears, its presence remains intact. This poetic creative process invites us to redefine our relationship with the object, both fragile and eternal.
