Page 140 - Korean Buncheong Ceramics, Samsung Museum Collection (great book)

Catalogue 70 Yoon Kwang-cho (Korean, b. 1946). Rhythm, 1987. Stoneware with white slip and carved
design, H. 10 5 ⁄8 in. (27 cm), Diam. 11 ⁄8 in. (28 cm). Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul
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When Yoon Kwang-cho (b. 1946), perhaps the best-known contemporary Korean potter in the
buncheong tradition, first decided to study buncheong idioms and incorporate them into his work,
in the 1970s, that intention alone made him a renegade at a time when nearly all Korean potters
were exploring and re-creating traditional Japanese ceramic styles, given that the majority studied
in Japan. His early works hew closely to the flavor and techniques of Joseon buncheong ware, in the
brushed application of white slip and the lightheartedly playful or textural designs (see cats. 70, 71,
72; fig. 3.15) that are either incised or carved away; yet they are unmistakably distinct from the
“original” models and bear Yoon’s signature style.
Yoon, who is a Buddhist, has often infused his pieces with the spirit of that ancient religion,
particularly from the 1990s on, whether by transcribing sections from Buddhist sutras onto the
surface of his vessels or through more abstract manifestations, as in the work entitled Meditation
(cat. 72), one of several pieces with this title. Alongside Buddhist references, his works from the
last two decades embody the essence of the mountains and other natural features of the area near

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