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Young Potter Park Su-gwan, the Surejil Earthenware Maker
Writing: Kim Dong-hyeon
Hwang Sun-won's short story "Old Potter" is a story of an old and poor pottery maker named Song abandoned by his wife, who ran away with his young apprentice. Pottery making is a way of survival for Song, but at the same time, it is a bout with the apprentice who stole his wife. However, Song's story is not a mere personal tragedy, but a disappearance of the traditional world.
Park Sun-gwan is an artist who revives the meaning of "tradition" and "heritage" in his modern pottery. It is no coincidence that writer Hwang Sun-won gave him the nickname "Young Potter" at Park's first exhibition in 1984.
Born in Mangwol-dong, Hannam, Park Sun-gwan is working on his pottery in his atelier, "Geochilmoi," meaning rough mountain. His family resided in the area for generations, and his father also owned a factory producing tiles and earthen pipes from clay found in the area.
Park majored in textile engineering, but he joined the army in his sophomore year after finding he wasn't interested in the subject. During his military service, Park faced a transition in life. "I was thunderstruck when I visited a pottery kiln near my unit. It was a whole new world, which completely moved me. My connection to clay from my father's tilery came back to me, so I changed my major to ceramic arts, and it changed the course of my life."
After his military service, Park transferred to the Ceramics Department at Danguk University, and his primary interest was the ancient design and technology of Surejil. Surejil is a method of making earthenware using a wheel, which makes a unique pattern. Using the Surejil method, Park makes larger pieces in a shorter amount of time, and the repeated patterns inside and outside of the pottery can not be reproduced using any other method. Also, Surejil earthenware is known to be light and strong.
Park Sun-gwan's style can not be summed up in one word, as he uses all kinds of clays to make a variety of designs. With diversity in mind, Park's work can be categorized as hard earthenware made utilizing the Surejil method. Park expresses creative textures with a primitive beauty and skills in his work, using various types of clays, and his unique sense of natural beauty and functionality he creates his own art world.
"My work starts from old beauty, and different methods of pottery making, using different types of clay, and is just a process of expressing diversity. I use a wheel to make my pottery, and after pounding the work for a while, each piece resonates to a different sound, and I enjoy the clarity of it."
Primitive shapes, natural colors, and artistic beauty are the hallmark of Park's world. Consistent wheel patterns and hand prints on the surface of his pottery remind us of ancient times and the artisan's spirit. The strong primitive images, overlapping with modern sophistication, is another characteristic of the works. However, Park himself wishes to be an ordinary artist.
"I am an ordinary artist. I do not have any of the peculiar habits of artists. The only artistic characteristic I have is a free spirit. I long for freedom, and that started my career in ceramics, and I love anything that is free. I love the freedom inside me."
Park Su-gwan is as naive as the color of his earthenware, but his love for freedom makes him a true Bohemian. Park's innocent smile reflects his free spirit, which made him choose earthenware, just because he likes it.
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