Page 15 - The Soul of East and West September 19 – 30, 2022 ARTA Gallery

Vase for the summer 1-Porcelain, 12”x4”

KAP-SUN HWANG

In Kap-Sun Hwang’s ‘Oeuvre, ideas and thought’, one finds the approaches and positions interface between art
and industry more manifest, than in the work of almost any other ceramic artist today.
Hwang is an outstanding figure in his métier – an untiring researcher; someone who explores with incredible
rigorousness and persistence the options offered by material, chemistry, their composition and their combination.
Pure minimalism, but richly-facetted in an unprecedented manner. He has succeeded in uniting the ancient
tradition of Korean ceramics with European colored modernism. He studied at the Seoul National University in
Korea and at the Muthesius Art Academy in Kiel, Germany. He combines ancient pottery tradition with cutting-
edge industrial production.
His captivating porcelain vessels remind us of the classically modern constructivism characteristic of Moholy-
Nagy’s and Mondrian’s works. Nevertheless, these porcelain ‘constructions’ radiate a breathtaking elegance thanks
to their sophisticated refinement. The mystery of how the colored lines in the matte-white porcelain have been
created is readily explained by the potter: Hwang cuts the porcelain body into pieces when it has dried so as to
be leather-hard, by using a metal thread. Then he colors the cut surfaces and accurately puts the individual pieces
together again before firing the vessels. This is also how he creates multi-colored objects.
He won the Red Dot Design Award (Germany) in 2014 and the Bavarian State Prize for special design and
technical excellence in craftsmanship, International Craft Fair Munich (Germany) in 2010.
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