Traces in Clay: Korean Sensibility
Curated by Korea Ceramic Foundation, hosted by Magna Gallery and korean-ceramics.com, this exhibition features seven genuine ceramics artists from Korea.
Curatorial note
This exhibition, Traces in Clay: Korean Sensibility, explores the intersection of tradition and modernity in Korean ceramic art.
The Sensibility of Korean ceramics lies not in the mere preservation of tradition, but in its continual reinterpretation and transformation.
Moon jars of the Joseon dynasty, along with onggi—earthenware vessels long used in everyday life—serve as the point of departure for this exhibition. The works of artists who sustain and engage with these traditions reveal the aesthetic sensibility of Korean ceramics through restrained forms and a quiet depth.
Contemporary artists further extend this dialogue, each developing a distinct visual language. The Vestige series, built through layers of differently colored clay; FLOW series, which explores the balance between color and negative space; Silence series, expressing inner stillness through black-glazed porcelain; and the Snowy Mountain and Jimoshin series, which reflect the rhythms and order of nature, unfold throughout the exhibition.
At this point where past and present converge, the exhibition invites viewers to experience the depth of time and the evolving possibilities inherent in Korean ceramics.
Korean Ceramic Foundation
Curator, Seungmin Kang
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![Kim Deokho portrait]()
Kim Deokho
In Kim Deokho's Vestige series, every surface mark is a record of time — unplanned, uncontrolled, and entirely unrepeatable. A thought drawn in clay.
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![Shin Suyeon portrait]()
Shin Suyeon
In Shin Sunyeon's hands, dark clay coils become mountains — each vessel a landscape built line by line, then traced in white slip.
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![Kim Hojung portrait]()
Kim Hojung
Inspired by ancient vessels from Korea to Cyprus, Kim Hojung translates millennia of ceramic memory into luminous, flowing porcelain forms.
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![Kim Changho portrait]()
Kim Changho
A master of onggi, Kim Changho seeks the point where making becomes effortless — where the hand and the clay find their own accord.
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![Lee Songam portrait]()
Lee Songam
The strength of a bronze-toned glaze against the intensity of deep black — Lee Songam makes objects that are as much about presence as they are about form.
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![Chung Youngrak]()
Chung Youngrak
For Chung Youngrak, onggi is not a subject — it is a lifelong devotion, deepened season by season through the discipline of repetition.
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![Kim Heungbae]()
Kim Heungbae
In his moon jars, Kim Heungbae distills one of Korea's most iconic forms into objects that carry both ancient symbolism and quiet contemporary presence.
Highlights
KIM DEOKHO 김덕호
Vestige Series · 2025
A tall vessel of exceptional formal clarity. Its surface is divided into precise geometric planes — each facet catching light at a different angle, moving between deep cobalt and a more expansive mineral blue. At 48.6 cm, Vestige_CC468_2025 commands space quietly. It is one of the most significant pieces from Kim Deokho's current body of work.
Material: Porcelaine
Dimensions: 48.6 × 18.1 × 18.1 cm
Year: 2025
KIM DEOKHO 김덕호
Vestige Series · 2025
At 57 cm, Vestige_YC570_2025 is the largest work in the Vestige series — and the most architecturally singular. The form tapers to a rounded dome at the top, its wide facets curving continuously from base to narrow opening without interruption. Yang-gu kaolin gives the surface its characteristic warmth: grey-white, matte, slightly granular. At the shoulder, a band of cobalt wave marks crosses all the facets at once. Above and below: silence. The piece occupies space the way a monumental object does.
Material: Yang-gu kaolin porcelain
Dimensions: 57.0 × 20.0 × 20.0 cm
Year: 2025
KIM HOJUNG 김호정
Flow Series · 2025
A hand-thrown white porcelain vessel from Kim Hojung's Flow series. The surface reinterprets Korean Neolithic pottery through a contemporary gesture — each piece unique, each mark unrepeatable.
Material: White porcelain
Dimensions: H 13.5 × Ø 15.0 cm
Year: 2025
KIM HOJUNG 김호정
Flow Series · 2025
A hand-thrown white porcelain vessel from Kim Hojung's Flow series. Among the most significant vessels in the series, its cobalt blue stained surface carries the full weight of Kim Hojung's research into ancient form — each mark deliberate, each piece singular.
Material: White porcelain
Dimensions: H 23.0 × Ø 22.0 cm
Year: 2025