Buncheong Landscape, 2015–20
Lee Kang-Hyo 이강효. Courtesy of Seoul Museum of Craft Art.
Lee Kang-hyo is one of the leading artists in Korea reinterpreting buncheong ware, a 15th-century Korean ceramic tradition in which grey stoneware is decorated with white slip. Traditionally trained, his practice melds classical techniques with contemporary performance.
Join the artist and curator Yeonsoo Chee as they engage for a discussion of Lee’s influences and learn how his ceramics relate to the performances he enacts as he paints them.
Lee Kang-hyo is the featured artist in the installation, “Tradition as Inspiration” in Gallery 109. The presentation of his works, held in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Center of Chicago, is supported by the Korea Craft and Design Foundation.
Support for this program is made possible by the Mickie Silverstein Endowed Fund.
About the Speakers
Lee Kang-hyo (b. 1961) is one of Korea’s most prominent ceramicists. His practice draws from Korean traditions, particularly onggi pottery—large storage jars for fermented foods—and buncheong decoration, characterized by the application of white slip over dark clay. His work has been showcased globally in collections, such as the V&A Museum, the British Museum in London, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the International Ceramic Museum in Italy. He lives and works in Cheong-ju, South Korea.
Yeonsoo Chee is associate curator of Korean art in the Arts of Asia department at the Art Institute of Chicago and a specialist in modern Korean paintings and the court art during the Joseon dynasty. Prior to joining the Art Institute, she worked at the National Palace Museum of Korea as curator and director of exhibitions and USC Pacific Asia Museum, southern California’s only museum dedicated to Asian art.
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Closed captioning will be available for this program. For questions related to accessibility accommodations, please email access@artic.edu.
