Walking up the stairs from the 15th floor of the Executive Tower of LOTTE HOTEL SEOUL to the 16th floor, one comes across a creamy white porcelain jar against a white background. This work of art, which seems to bestow a beneficent smile on the guests who come to stay at the hotel, is by artist Choi Young-Wook, who showcases the tranquil beauty of Korea to the world through the paintings of moon jars. The artist remarks that by gazing at this simple yet sophisticated creation, taciturn but replete with meaning, he himself becomes one with the moon jar. The moon jar is the starting point in his contemplations on life and how to live a good one. The surface of the ceramic jar reveals fine craquelure in the glaze. These cracks are not realistic depictions, but rather, lines that the artist has painstakingly painted, in order to express karma. These lines represent the crisscrossing paths of our lives that seemingly converge but diverge, only to converge again.

Choi Young-wook has been drawing Joseon moon jars for a number of years. At first glance, the moon jar that takes up most of the space on the canvas appears to be a hyper-realistic painting that could be mistaken for a photograph, but it is in fact a sublimation of a universal image achieved through abstract expressive techniques characteristic of the artist’s work. Choi, who majored in Western painting, has attempted to faithfully depict the gloss and craquelure of the moon jar by applying the materials and style associated with oriental painting to conventional painting methods. Using handmade paints, the artist meticulously shapes clear but meandering lines on a smooth, thick, glossy surface. On the surface of the jar thus rendered, we can sometimes discern faint landscapes surrounded by clouds or mist, which call to mind bygone memories. His work, which has gained worldwide renown, can be found in the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, and by the Spanish royal family, as well as a number of multinational corporations and leading hotels.