The Korean ceramist Ji-Sook Lee newly appropriates the old “Chaekkado” (scholars’ accoutrements, 冊架圖)[ii] using acrylic painting on terracotta. A pile of assorted books and Obangsaek (the five traditional colors of Korea)[iii] draw our attention, and there are things that are easily found around us, not just things from the past. Chaekkado represents the landscape of men’s study rooms. Scholars of the Joseon dynasty boasted about the books and precious items they collected for their richness and perspective. In addition, such accoutrements expressed the mood within literary circles, which held reading and study in high regard. Chaekkado are filled with men’s tastes and desires, and they perpetuate illusions about men that were needed by the society of that time. Ji-Sook Lee’s Chaekkado, however, does not carry the same connotations seen in the old paintings. In place of the political ideology of the Joseon dynasty and the scholars’ ardor for study, Ji-Sook Lee expresses the small joys of everyday life and the preferences of ordinary contemporary women.
Spaces reopened using old methods
The attraction of the old Chaekkado is that it represents the symbolic world of various items—profound and mysterious structures as well as the eccentric cohabitation of heterogeneous items. The items are independent, harmonic, delicate, and tarnished; this represents the unique flavor of the Chaekkado scene. Chaekkado was the most popular form in the Minhwa[iv] of the Joseon period. It was popular as a test of painters’ loyalty because it not only expressed the king’s belief that reading and study were important but also allowed for the judgment of painters’ abilities. This is why painters needed to be able to observe and represent various book-related items during the late eighteenth-century reign of King Jeongjo (1752–1800).
In Ji-Sook Lee’s work, however, space spreads out in an open structure, more like the still life of Western painting than the bookshelves of traditional Chaekkado or the extensive, enclosed grids of the curio cabinets and cases[v] of the Ch’ien-lung period (1736–1795) of the Ch’ing dynasty. Various items are arranged in low layers; they are easily recognized as representing women’s tastes. When observing the layers, the desire to see traces of or connections with traditional Chaekkado signifiers soon fades.
Ji-Sook Lee says, first, that reading books is her favorite activity. Second, sharing impression on books with others provides pleasure and enlightenment. Finally, the clay work and painting represent the best work she can do. Ji-Sook Lee presents familiar things such as cosmetics, a bowl filled with nuts and fruits, a vase with peony or gypsophila, a tin case of tea leaves, and a dressing table inlaid with mother-of-pearl with books stacked on it. These things exist as simulations created by the artist. Without shadow or gravity, the objects float in a world characterized by renewed perspectives and multiple viewpoints. The materials and expressive qualities of her images differ from traditional folk paintings (Minhwa), yet their compositions feel similar.
Contemporary Korean artists appropriate Chaekkado. They aim to create an illusion simulated on the plane of the canvas, much like many painters in the Western tradition. It is possible, however, to experience an ambiguous state, neither two nor three-dimensional, in which the distinction between reality and representation vanishes. Ji-Sook Lee’s terracotta construction comprises a low relief made with the pitch of shape and shadow. Thus, her work represents a new approach to the fundamental problems of planar characteristics and illusion in modern plastic arts by using new viewpoints and materials in ceramic art. Her work is rooted in the fundamental decorative instinct of crafts, as seen in the tea case, the ornamentation, and the furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Ultimately, her work is an exploration of the cross-sectional area between arts and crafts.
Romanticism in the female room
Traditional folk paintings (Minhwa) contain symbolic worlds signifying people’s hopes, such as longevity, wealth and honor, peace and happiness, conjugal harmony, fecundity, and so forth. Ji-Sook Lee, however, presents a different landscape that shows the emotions of women longing for culture, vanity, and a leisurely life. For example, she represents the enjoyment of reading a book, beautiful flowers, the pleasant smell and taste of tea, and good music. Thus, we face the existence of a woman who keeps cherished things at hand in her room and dreams of a comfortable life as simulation.
Ji-Sook Lee’s works do not show gender-related problems, such as the burden of housework, the responsibility for childcare, or social and economic disadvantages in the workplace. We do not find attempts to challenge or ridicule traditional ideas of manhood. She recalls various things that are fixed for her, such as gender, sexual orientation, and her mother. She paints and creates her mother’s things with her hands. The representations of the woman’s (hers and her mother’s) well-thumbed things do not convey longing or recollection. Rather, they represent a process of self-discovery and self-soothing in the face of incomplete memories of life. In this process, she recognizes the continuity of her life, which is carried on by the family line and thus represents a continuation beyond herself. Femininity in Ji-Sook Lee’s work is embodied in the artist’s mind and expressed through her behaviors, which involve collecting, creating, and painting in her daily life.
Things are cherished and used by people for a long time; they have a special savor and attraction. All of the women’s items in Ji-Sook Lee’s works are small and warm, yet they lack desire and reveal a fundamental loneliness through the absence of a room owner. The ordinary and tranquil properties of the room amplify the imperfections of our interior lives.
The world of clay and slender brushes
Ji-Sook Lee paints with acrylic on terracotta, characterized by detailed round brushstrokes showing heightened concentration. She repeatedly spreads the watery acrylic paint evenly and shallowly. Her actions by hand, tool, and brush create various indexes on the surface of the clay. These are piled on one another to form layers of terracotta. In the iterative process of sanding and painting, the rough terracotta surface is made to glitter like floating aurorae with bright flashes of colored light that appear in the night. She uses these methods to get a dedicated painted image and earthenware texture that retains moisture, which differs from the thickly glazed and hardened surface of porcelain. Within the aesthetics of traditional ceramics, Ji-Sook Lee’s works using acrylic on terracotta fired at low temperatures (around 1,000°C) without glazes might not be included in the area of ceramic arts.
Her work asks us to consider what is necessary in the aesthetics of contemporary ceramics. There is some doubt as to whether the combination of clay and fire should be the sole approach to ceramic arts. There is no doubt, however, that clay is important material. Clay is never replaced by other materials in Ji-Sook Lee’s work, because its plasticity allows her to change shapes using fingers and tools. She creates her work through the movement of her hands and the blush according to the idea of the work. She paints throughout the process of forming and trimming the clay, working in the same position in her studio for long periods of time.
Within the splendid three-dimensional color effects commonly used in Chaekkado, it is possible to find a different aspect of contemporary aesthetics. It involves a romantic sense of everyday life that every woman dreams of and is secretly revealed in the naked skin of the clay. Ji-Sook Lee’s work shows us that it can be very appealing to look at our ordinary things with affection.
[i] Jisu Hong, PhD, is a critic, curator, and research professor in Hongik Univ. in Korea. She recently published the book about the vessels of 13 Korean ceramists and is currently writing a new book about Korean ceramic painting. ([email protected]).
[ii] During the latter half of the Joseon period, artists began to paint collections of books called Chaekkado (book collection). They depicted books on shelves along with brushes, ink jars, paperweights, and other basic stationery. Eventually, these Chaekkado paintings began to include items such as fruits, bowls, scrolls, and flowers. Chaekkado usually took the form of folding screens. After painting a section, the artist would put the painting into a long rectangular wooden frame that was connected to other frames in the folding screen. The shelves depicted not only books but also brushes, ink sticks, ink stones, rolled up scroll paintings, ancient bronzes, ceramics, and other treasured possessions. The artist created a sense of depth in the painting by adding Western techniques of perspective; an example would be the way each shelf appears to recede into the background.
[iii] The traditional Korean color spectrum, also known as Obangsaek (Korean: 오방색), is the color scheme of the five traditional Korean colors of white, black, blue, yellow, and red. In traditional Korean arts and textile patterns, the colors of Obangsaek represented the five cardinal directions (i.e., blue-east, white-west, black-north, red-south, and yellow-center). In the Korean tradition, these colors are associated with Yin (negative) and Yang (positive): blue with wood, red with fire, yellow with earth, white with metal, and black with water.
[iv] Minhwa, the folk painting of Korea, can include bird and flower paintings, the tiger and the dragon, and the 10 longevity symbols. An extraordinary and unconventional form, Minhwa shows the common people’s freedom of expression and reveals their innermost thoughts and dreams. Minhwa refers to Korean folk art that consists of paintings of mythical figures and other objects, rendered in a style that is specific, plain, straightforward, and naive.
[v] Curio boxes and cases are among the most attractive and unique items in Chinese crafts.