Ceramic artist Yoon Hojun is presenting “Saenggi: The Play of Re-forming” at CN Gallery in Seoul through Sept. 13.
Yoon draws on the shapes and decorative motifs of traditional Korean celadon, white porcelain and buncheong ware. Instead of reproducing historical objects, he intervenes in their established structures, turning flat motifs into three-dimensional forms and introducing movement into otherwise static vessels.
In his white porcelain works, animals leave the surfaces they once decorated. In “White Porcelain Jar with an Emerging Tiger and Magpie” (2026), the two creatures project from the jar and face each other. Their outlines remain on the vessel, while dark cobalt pigment appears on the backs of the protruding forms, preserving evidence of their origin.
The celadon works introduce actions between vessels and their sculptural figures. In “In Search of the Jewel” (2024), a lion no longer functions solely as decoration for an incense burner. Its lowered body and forward movement suggest a search for a missing jewel.
“The Story of a Sinhae Lion Incense Burner and Its Jewel” (2026) develops this approach into a more detailed scene. A lion appears to offer one of two jewels, while small variations in the burner’s supporting legs respond to its movement.
“Celadon Inlaid Maebyeong with a Raised Cloth Motif” (2026) lifts part of the decoration covering the vessel’s shoulder as if one corner of a wrapping cloth had been raised. The curve of the maebyeong and its inlaid surface remain intact, but a new action is inserted into the completed form.
Yoon’s buncheong works take a more structural approach. In “Buncheong Bottle with an Emerging Iron-Painted Fish” (2025), a fish leaves the painted surface and enters the surrounding space. Another work divides the upper and lower sections of a bottle and reconnects them in a new configuration. Incised, sgraffito and iron-painted lines function as guides for dismantling and rebuilding the vessel.
“The Road to the Moon” (2025) depicts the artist’s recurring alter ego, known as “A,” reaching toward a rounded form resembling a moon jar. The work treats the vessel as something approached through movement rather than as a fixed and completed object.
The figure of “A” appeared more directly in Yoon’s earlier work, touching, embracing and climbing on ceramic forms. It is less visible in recent pieces, but its role survives in the actions that reshape the vessels and release their motifs into space.
The exhibition title refers to the reactivation of a fixed vessel through movement, incident and altered use. In Yoon’s work, traditional ceramics become open structures capable of producing new scenes rather than remaining completed objects from the past.
The exhibition is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. CN Gallery is closed on Mondays and public holidays.
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