Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase Thousand, 2012. Ceramic shards, epoxy, 24K gold leaf. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Kukje gallery. Installation view. Constellation Gemini, Korea Artist Prize, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea ⓒ National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase Thousand, 2012 (detail)

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase 2012 TVG 1, 2012. Ceramic shards, aluminum bars, epoxy, 24K gold leaf, 157x88x93cm. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Keith Park ⓒYeesookyung

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase, The Other Side of the Moon 2014 TVB 2, 2014. Ceramic shards from North Korea, epoxy, 24K gold leaf, 138x143x141cm. Collection of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea. Courtesy of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea ⓒLeeum, Samsung Museum of art, Photographed by Yongkwan Kim

Exhibition history: Beyond and Between, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea, 2014

2014 The Other Side of The Moon 

The Other Side of The Moon is one of the works inside the Translated Vase series. The black-glazed ceramic fragments from Hoiryeong in North Korea were used in this work. These black-glazed ceramics were mainly made in the Northern part of the Korean peninsula during the Japanese occupation period. Dark Side of the Moon is exhibited in the Leeum Museum opposite the Joseon white Moon jar. Nobody really knows what the other side of the Moon is like and this piece is my musing on the unknown reality of North Korea.

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase 2014 TVW 2 (left), 2014. Ceramic shards, epoxy, 24K gold leaf, 220x110x100cm. Courtesy of the artist and Locks gallery, Philadelphia, USA ⓒSFO Museum, San Francisco, USA

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase 2014 TVWG 1 (right), 2014. Ceramic shards, epoxy, 24K gold leaf, 92x70x156cm. Courtesy of the artist and Locks gallery, Philadelphia, USA ⓒSFO Museum, San Francisco, USA

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase 2009 TVW 5, 2009. Ceramic shards, epoxy, 24K gold leaf, 170x80x85cm. Collection of Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, USA. Courtesy of Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, USA ⓒ Museum Schloß Oranienbaum, Dessau, Germany

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase, 2008. Ceramic shards, epoxy, 24K gold leaf, 160x90x90cm. Collection of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea. Courtesy of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea ⓒ Museum Schloß Oranienbaum, Dessau, Germany

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase 2007 TVW 5, 2007. Ceramic shards, epoxy, 24K gold leaf, 120x210x95cm. Collection of National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea. Courtesy of National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea. Photo: Kim Sangtae ⓒYeesookyung 

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase 2007 TVW 5 (detail), 2007. 

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase 2009 TVW 1, 2009. Ceramic shards, epoxy, 24K gold leaf, 90x145x135cm. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Keith Park ⓒYeesookyung

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase 2009 TVW 2, 2009. Ceramic shards, epoxy, 24K gold leaf, 60x1105x150cm. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Keith Park ⓒYeesookyung

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase 2009, 2009. Ceramic shards, epoxy, 24K gold leaf. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan ⓒOta Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan

Yee Sookyun, Translated Vase 2009 (detail), 2009.

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.