The “Translated Vase” series consists of sculptures reconstructed from discarded ceramic fragments. Skillful ceramic masters reproduce traditional Korean ceramics, and the vases with minor defects are destroyed to keep the rarity and value of the surviving masterpieces. I piece these destroyed pots back together in the manner of three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles, covering the cracks in gold. From the moment of destruction, I obtain a chance to intervene and fabricate new narratives with my own translation.

Yee Sookyung’s most acclaimed series “Translated Vase” routed from her affection for the fragments, which began from her visit to one of the Korean pottery masters in 2001. The masters, obsessed with the pursuit of perfection, were used to break the pieces they produced when small flaws were founded. The artist’s research develops around this state of the broken and discarded fragments, interpreted as a relief of stress from the vulnerability of complete forms. Yee Sookyung intervenes freely in this state, combining the different fragments in a complex structure, covering the cracks with gold. The works seemingly a puzzle gained an entirely new narrative. The Korean words for “gold”, “flaw” and “crack” sound the same as GEUM, so the fragments connected and layered with GEUM finally create an organic form that can't be planned prior to production.

Courtesy of the artist