Perfect Imperfection: Pottery Across Generations at the Seattle Art Museum

The Seattle Art Museum’s exhibit Meot (멋) displays an impressive assortment of traditional and contemporary works of Korean art, with a focus on pottery. The collection exhibits an array of Korean art: contemporary porcelain jars, 13th century vases and bottles, and ink-on-paper hanging scrolls. Despite the wide, open rooms of the gallery, the exhibit feels intimate and focused, accentuating the intricate details of the pieces. Meot, however, is most distinctive in its focus on the craft, humanity, and history behind its curation and collection. Meot, meaning elegance, beauty, and refined aesthetic sensibility, primarily exhibits Seattle-local Frank Bayley’s donated collection. Bayley (1939 - 2022) was a prolific art collector with an admirable, lasting impact on the community: besides being a longtime trustee and donor of hundreds of works to the Seattle Art Museum, he also co-founded the San Juan Preservation Trust in 1979, which continues to prevent thousands of acres of shoreline from further development on the San Juan Islands. 

Meot’s design is very intentional. Many of the featured artists emulate techniques and elements from the Korean Joseon dynasty (1392 - 1897), from the use of cobalt and white slip to implementing traditional calligraphy, symbolism, and even poetry. The exhibit’s curator, Hyonjeong Kim, is deliberate in her layout design; contemporary pieces are placed adjacent to traditional Joseon dynasty pieces, juxtaposing the time period while simultaneously emphasising the common motifs and influences. One of the exhibit’s stand-out pieces, Younsook PARK’s towering Moon Jar, directly imitates the Joseon “moon jar,” using traditional methods to replicate the pure-white harmonious form. The exhibit places traditional Joseon moon jars in close proximity, allowing the viewer to directly observe the influences and emulated techniques. 

Buncheong stoneware, a Korean ceramic style characterized by white slip brushed or dipped over the surface, is prominent within the exhibit. Many of the contemporary artists play on traditional buncheong techniques: YOON Kwang-cho makes buncheong his own by inscribing Buddhist text and unconventionally hand-shaping his ceramics with imbalanced slabs and uneven edges, while MIN Young-ki freshly revives the traditional Joseon buncheong tea bowl using colored glazes, but maintains the traditional technique and creativity. The edifying design of the exhibit enhances the presentation for each artist; the curator once more positions traditional Joseon buncheong nearby, imbuing a sense of intergenerational continuity throughout the exhibit, despite the increased experimentation that comes with the contemporary works.

Inchin LEE’s Jar was my favorite piece in the exhibit. LEE experimented with onggi– traditional, dark stoneware made from coarse clay combined with sand– by using ash glaze, resulting in bubbles forming over the holes from the sand. LEE’s Jar has visible seams, rough surfaces, and deliberately patchy coloring, yet is elegant and whole. The chemical reactions result in enough unique and unexpected detail to observe for ages, and the surface’s chemical changes between dark orange, speckled beige, and plain clay are mesmerizing. 

“Perfect Imperfection” is a repeating emphasis throughout the exhibit’s provided analysis and context. The aforementioned moon jars are made in two parts due to their size, leaving a seam in the middle, resulting in perfect spherical symmetry being unachievable. Buncheong ceramics are elegant, yet are notable for their rough bodies and white slip, and often have small marks from small rocks that the artist used to separate them in the kiln. LEE’s work is founded in uncontrollable chemical reactions yet has a balanced beauty and fullness. Perfect art is frankly boring– the “imperfections” of Meot’s artwork bring the craft and artistic process in the spotlight, humanizing the artists and creating interest in each piece.

The ethics of art collecting practices have come into question in recent years. Now, certain exhibits in Western museums are inseparable from exploitative and controversial histories. In Meot, however, Bayley’s unique collecting practices are foregrounded. The exhibit features seven contemporary Korean artists, all of whom were friends of Bayley: he befriended them on his visits to Korea when they were still up-and-coming, and worked with them closely to not only internationally publicize their work, but educate himself on their influences and methodology. The walls of Meot’s exhibit are adorned with numerous quotes from the featured artists expressing their gratitude and admiration of Bayley: “I was impressed by his broad views, diverse interests and high intelligence,” Bohnchang KOO writes, “Mr. Bayley facilitated the inclusion of my works in various art museums in the United States and England. This is significant not only because he recommended one artist but also because he promoted Korean art and culture on the global stage.” Meot is the impressive culmination of everything that Frank Bayley’s legacy represented; from genuine relationships with the featured artists to a deep appreciation for Korean art history, Meot is an exquisitely crafted exhibition that highlights the significance of attentive art collecting.

Lead photo: Installation view of Meot: Korean Art from the Frank Bayley Collection, 2024, photo: L.Fried

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