kintsugi

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Craft

Speckled, Crackled, and Kintsugi Sheets of Ceramic Cloak Lisa Agnetun’s Tiny Spirited Ghosts

“They’re very much like people,” says Lisa Agnetun (previously) about her adorably spirited figures. “Except for the fact that high-fired ceramics has the ability to outlive us all. If you treat them respectfully, they will haunt you forever.”

The Gothenburg, Sweden-based ceramicist crafts tiny apparitions with endlessly unique personalities. All wear bedsheet-style disguises, although they’re crafted from different clays, fired at varying temperatures, and covered in glazes that range from matte neutral tones to sleek, vibrant speckles. The artist shares that the characters have gained weight recently and their eyes have widened, and some of the spectral forms have even been fractured and scarred with glimmering gold Kintsugi.

Agnetun plans to update her Etsy shop next on November 25, so keep an eye on her Instagram for details on that release, especially since the tiny apparitions seem to disappear within minutes.

 

Art

Shattered Porcelain Fragments Are Elegantly Bonded in Kintsugi Sculptures by Yeesookyung

Seoul-based artist Yeesookyung (previously) fuses Korean and Japanese craft traditions in her elegant, gilded sculptures. Blending ornately patterned vessels with deities and animals, the delicate assemblages meld shards of discarded ceramic into new forms with bulbous sides, halved figures, and drips of metallic epoxy. Utilizing fragments from previous works references the Korean tradition of discarding porcelain with small irregularities, while the visibly repaired crevices draw on Kintsugi techniques, the Japanese art of highlighting the beauty of broken vessels with thick, gold mendings.

Part of Yee’s ongoing Translated Vase series that has amassed hundreds of works since it began in 2002, the celadon pieces shown here were part of the artist’s solo exhibition titled I am not the only one but many, which was on view last fall at Massimo De Carlo. In a statement about her latest additions, she describes her fractured sculptures:

To me, a piece of broken ceramic finds another piece, and they come to rely on one another. The usage of gold in the cracks between them is related to the Korean language, for which the pronunciation of the word ‘gold’ and ‘crack’ sounds the same as ‘Geum.’ Indeed, the shapes of the vases present entirely organic forms which exist out of an innate and sensorial élan.

For more of Yee’s exquisite assemblages, visit her site and Instagram.

 

Art

An Opulent Kintsugi Installation by Victor Solomon Gilds a Dilapidated Basketball Court in Los Angeles

Celebrating the restorative qualities of sports and basketball’s return this past week, Victor Solomon mended a deteriorated court in South Los Angeles through the ancient art of Kintsugi—the Japanese method of repairing broken pottery by using metallic substances to mend the fractures. The artist filled cracks in the cement with gold-dust resin, highlighting the years of use “to accentuate the healing as a formative part of its journey,” he says. “Sport can entertain, inspire, and distract, but more apropos than all, the platform of sport can help us heal.” Titled “Kintsugi Court,” the gilded installation has similarly lavish backboards and hoops.

The restored court is just one of Solomon’s explorations into the sport and the ways it intersects with luxury. For more of his embellished projects, head to Instagram. (via The Kids Should See This)

 

Art

Street Kintsugi: Artist Rachel Sussman Repairs the Roads with Gold

As part of an ongoing series titled Sidewalk Kintsukuroi, artist Rachel Sussman (previously) brings the Japanese art of kintsugi to the streets. We’ve long been enamored by the ancient technique that traditionally involves the process of fixing broken pottery with a lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, resulting in an a repair that pays homage to the object’s history. In the same way, Sussman’s kintsugi series highlights the history under our feet, bringing attention to the imperceptible changes that take place over time in the world around us. Though even the repairs are impermanent and will eventually be lost to wear and tear.

Several photos from Sidewalk Kintsukuroi are currently on view as part of the Alchemy: Transformations in Gold at the Des Moines Art Center through through May 5, 2017. (via Hyperallergic)

Art

Shattered Porcelain Fragments Fused With Gold by Artist Yeesookyung

Korean artist Yeesookyung masterfully produces imperfect sculptures, bulbous yet elegant works composed from mismatched porcelain. The series, titled “Translated Vase,” was first inspired by the Korean artisan tradition of destroying porcelain works that are not deemed pristine, and she has continued to make the fused pieces since 2001. Intrigued by these tossed aside works and shards, Yee began saving fragmented tea cups and pots rejected by contemporary masters. Honoring the works’ dismantled states, she traces each crevice in 24-karat gold leaf in the style of Japanese kintsugi, merging the unwanted works together in a way that heightens the beauty of their distress. In this way she blends diverse methods to form a contemporary process that evokes both the elegant designs of her homeland and the delicate rebuilding of damaged works in Japanese tradition.

Yee received her undergraduate degree and MFA in painting from the National University in Seoul. She is represented by Kukje Gallery in Seoul, Locks Gallery in Philadelphia, and Ota Fine Arts in Tokyo. This spring she was in the group exhibition “Earth, Fire, and Soul – Masterpieces of Korean Ceramics” at the Grand Palais in Paris. You can see more works from her Translated Vase series on her website.

Art Craft

Artist Mimics Japanese ‘Kintsugi’ Technique to Repair Broken Vases with Embroidery

Brighton-based artist Charlotte Bailey was fascinated by the traditional Japanese mending technique called kintsugi, where a broken ceramic object is repaired with gold, silver or platinum, to accentuate the damage and ‘honor’ its history. In this interpretation, Bailey utilizes an embroidery method to reassemble a broken vase—a sort of hybrid between kintsugi and darning with a beautiful result. She first wraps each broken piece in fabric and then uses gold metallic thread to painstakingly patchwork the pieces together. While the process isn’t meant to make the vase functional again, it does produce a striking sculptural object. We’d love to see many more of these. You can follow more of her embroidery work on Facebook.

Update: Artist Zoe Hillyard has been using a similar technique to create ceramic patchwork since 2010.