in

Porcelain Vessels Are Portals Through Time and Space in Paintings by Sun Hwa Kim

“Still Life with Jars” (2025), acrylic and flashe on canvas, 60 x 84 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Harper’s, New York

Porcelain Vessels Are Portals Through Time and Space in Paintings by Sun Hwa Kim

In the late 17th century, during Korea’s Joseon Dynasty, a particularly rotund, plain white porcelain vessel rose to popularity. Nicknamed “moon jars” for their milky glaze and spherical form, the earliest examples were finished in wood-fired kilns to add character to their minimalist surfaces. Treasured and reproduced by skilled artisans throughout the centuries, the classic style continues to influence contemporary artisans.

For Brooklyn-based artist Sung Hwa Kim, the traditional Korean jar serves as a starting point for an ongoing series of paintings invoking decorative vessels as metaphorical containers for the past. In the context of the still-life, he conjures what he refers to as “visual haikus,” poetic evocations of the passing of time, like changing seasons and the transition from day into night.

“Still Life with Jar, Ashtray, and Vincent van Gogh Painting” (2024), acrylic and flashe on canvas, 72 x 60 inches

In Kim’s current solo exhibition, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring at Harper’s, the artist emphasizes quiet, everyday moments in domestic settings that often overlook brick buildings or the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. Some of his compositions are vibrantly monochrome, setting the scene for a vase on top of a table, containing a scene from a historic painting or faraway landscape.

Kim often incorporates spectral, glowing insects (previously) and situates the vessels on sills or near windows. Vases contain landscapes, trees, and animals, while decor on the walls reference works by famous modernists like Vincent van Gogh, René Magritte, and Sanyu.

Inside the pots, the flora appears ghost-like or faded, rendered in fuzzy gray marks, and objects left nearby, like a pencil and notebook or a drinking glass, suggest that someone was recently present but an unspecified time has passed since they left. The jars serve as portals to other times and places just as the windows provide views of another world. “Ultimately, Kim masterfully inhabits the role of guide, making perceptible the delicate threshold between what fades and what endures,” says a gallery statement.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring continues in New York through April 5. See more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

“Still Life with Jar, Fruits, and Incense Burner” (2025), acrylic and flashe on canvas, 72 x 60 inches
“Still Life with Jar and Round Glass Top Table” (2025), acrylic and flashe on canvas, 50 x 40 inches
“Still Life with Jar, Moon Lamp, and René Magritte Postcard” (2024), acrylic and flashe on canvas, 72 x 60 inches
“Still Life with Jar, Pencil, and Notebook” (2025), acrylic and flashe on canvas, 60 x 48 inches
“Still Life with Jar” (2024), acrylic and flashe on canvas, 50 x 40 inches
“Still Life with Jar and Sanyu Painting” (2025), acrylic and flashe on canvas, 60 x 48 inches
“Still Life with Jars” (2025), acrylic and flashe on canvas, 60 x 48 inches

Related articles

  • ‘Remake’ Reimagines Master Works of Art
  • Art Historical Masterworks Come Alive at Annual Halloween Parade in Kawasaki, Japan
  • Watch a Conservator Delicately Remove Murky Varnish and a Warped Wooden Panel From an Aging Painting
  • Secret Fore-Edge Paintings Revealed in Early 19th Century Books at the University of Iowa
  • Great Women Painters: An Enormous Volume Surveys the Work of 300 Artists Across 500 Years
  • At 600 Pages, Escif’s First-Ever Book Takes an Ambitious and Playfully Irreverent Approach to Street Art


Source: Art - thisiscolossal.com


Tagcloud:

Delight in Heather Rios’s Delectable Cakes Made from Polymer Clay and Embroidery

Why Performance Artist Mariana Valencia’s New Show Feels Like Hanging Out With an Old Friend