The exhibition traces Yoon's career as a potter from 1975 to the present. The earliest work is wheel-thrown in stoneware clay and simply decorated with stamped and inlaid designs.
Most of the pieces are finished in white slip that is often inscribed to reveal the dark clay body beneath. The few glazes in evidence are somber, either celadon-hued or lustrous dark brown.
As he gained experience, Yoon moved from wheel-throwing, which produces symmetrical forms, to hand-building with flat slabs. Some of the later pieces are triangular or eliptical. As the pots became less regular, they also became larger and more robust.
Yoon is always working within Korean ceramic tradition, and his pots accentuate the medium's essential earthiness.
The climax of his progression toward spiritual expression comes in two large vessels whose surfaces are covered with Buddhist texts inscribed into the slip-coated surface with a nail.
These achieve a notably moving synthesis of elemental form, sensuous surface and stimulating content. Their cultural specificity is made all the more resonant by curator Felice Fischer's handsome installation, in which some pots are placed atop examples of traditional Korean furniture.
Art Museum, 26th Street and the Parkway. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, to 8:45 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. Through Dec. 31. 215-763-8100, 215-684-7500 or www.philamuseum.org.
Unconventional 3-D. People are still discovering the Slought Foundation, behind its quiet storefront in University City. Telling others about it is a challenge, since it has a profile that feels new: a "meeting place" for digital media, architecture and planning, performance, poetry and visual art, along with theoretical discussion of all of the above.
