Wednesday, October 27, 2010

An Autumnal Teacup by Kim Dae Woong



This cup was a gift by the artist. It is the gift of the wood fired kiln, of Earth, of Fire. How appropriate is it to sip tea from its gritty, uncut innards on an cool autumn day?
Its shape is slightly oblong, warped, imperfect, so too is the coming of fall- it never comes smoothly but rather unevenly until it gives in to the cold of winter. This cup embodies the struggle of warm and cool, its colour splotches of warm reds, oranges, earthy notes- colours of fall. There are large swaths of black and browns also- the cold of winter when trees are bare.
The texture of the cup is cold like a rock- with eyes closed you'd swear it was. Its toughness is only confirmed by its scars from the kiln- a scratch here, a blotch there. Despite these crude features, the cup is extraordinarily lightweight and its walls excessively thin. Done to balance these harder features, it seems a bit too obvious.
Sipping Korean yellow tea from it on a cool autumn afternoon seems about right.
Wind rustles,
Leaves fall,
one drinks tea.
Peace

7 comments:

Ruqyo Highsong said...

That cup looks very nice, Matt! I'm a tad jealous. :P

Nicolas said...

Realy nice teacup, Matt.

Have a good day.
Nicolas

Ho Go said...

Very nice cup. Reminds me a lot of some Bizen cups I have that I use for Gyokuro. http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Ig5JW2vCr8I/TMk9RfnhR4I/AAAAAAAABFQ/-ce0x95lNgg/s640/Bizen%20guinomi%203.jpg
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Ig5JW2vCr8I/TMk9RYxVwVI/AAAAAAAABFU/quBz9jTIVrI/s640/Bizen%20guinomi%206.jpg

Interesting effects from the fire.

Off to Darjeeling soon. Any 'namaskars' for someone?

Matt said...

Asiatic Fox and Nicolas,

Nice cup indeed. Don't use it that often, but guests really like the extreme nature of this cup especially its texture.

HoGo,

Nice cup. Its more Japanese form is evident. How does it taste with gyokuro?

Have fun in Darjeeling, it must be starting to get cooler this time of year.

Peace

Rich said...

What a beautiful tea cup. It has such an autumnal presence in its color, shape, and material properties.

louveaudlg said...

Hello Matt,

Thank you for the comment on Teamaster blog, about my work.

Your blog help me a lot to keep contact with Korean culture.And with some works of my Korean potters friends !
i use your blog for my professional reaserch. So thank you again.

I have try to send you agian some pictures of my last exibition but your e-mail adress i have doesn't pass, can you send me your contact again if it's possible

David

Matt said...

David Louveau,

One has emailed you a few times. Strange that things are not working? Perhaps check the junk mail box or blocked messages?

Left a message with email address on the contact page on your blog: http://terreetfeu.fr/

Let me know if you receive it.

Peace