EthnoScopes : Tracks of an Anthropologist: Tongyeong Ottchil Art Museum, Geoje Island

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Tongyeong Ottchil Art Museum, Geoje Island

Ottchil, also known as an East Asian Lacquer, contains the chemical substance Urushiol. Ottchil is most frequently used in najeon-chil-gi (mother-of-pearl inlay lacquer ware); however, the West has typically perceived ottchil as being a synthetic and not derived from organic sources. Therefore, in an attempt to refute this misbelief and to raise awareness of the natural beauty of ottchil in elaborate artisty, artist KIM Sungsoo has organized a series of Korean Ottchil Painting exhibitions in the hopes of "enlightening others". In result, the Tongyeong Ottchil Art Museum was created for the purpose of establishing ottchil in the Korean art culture--specifically its historical claims to natural beauty and its current modern usages.

KOREA: Ottchil is an art form with long-lasting preservation qualities as well as offering the aesthetics of visual depth and elegance. Ottchil is the semi-permanent material which doesn't get discolored even if it is buried in the earth for thousands of years, obviously having better durability than canvas or paper. In current times creating new concepts and usages of the traditional form of ottchil is a modern art trend.

VIETNAM: Son mai was a traditional pigment originating in Vietnamese temple art over 1,000 years ago. The art was used for gilding, painting dark brown or black colors, and varnishing pillars and sculptures of religious iconography with som mai (resin of the som tree). Traditionally, Buddhist statues were lightly painted and then varnished with som mai to "bring forth the magical and holy world of Vietnamese traditional painting". The pigment was also used on household furniture and items such as beds, drawers, furniture, plates and chopsticks.

Vietnamese painting culture originated in the Puto region, which was known for producing the best quality of som mai. Before the sun rose, people collected it. It was then put in a large container and after some time, the som mai would separate into layers. The top layer was of the richest blacks and browns (som mai) and used for creating elegance and the lowest layer was of the heavy elements with waterproof qualities and had everyday, commonplace usages (som song). In modern times the simple traditional ingredients have been replaced with more controllable and aesthetically pleasing synthetics. Since the 1980s and 1990s, Vietnamese artists have been expanding the uses of som mai into abstract works to reach new levels of loveliness and idealism.

JAPAN: Urushi has been used by the Japanese since the Jomon era 1,000 years ago. However, this number is young when considering the thread-processing tool with urushi applied on it and surmised to be 7,000 years old. Currently, in Kyoto there are a series of activities to develop and promote urushi quality. A lacquer ware youth association in cooperating with young pupils, craftsmen, Maki-e artisans and urushi refiners has launched various programs to expand the uses of lacquer ware gum.

CHINA: Daqi initially was used in lacquer ware but has since been transformed through a long process. In 1962 the "Vietnamese Daqi Exhibition" was opened first in Beijing and then in Shanghai, and these would influence the artistic world of China. In the same year that Vietnamese daqi entered China, university students Qiao Shiguang (who later became knows as "the father of contemporary Chinese Daqi art") and Li Hongyin were sent to Vietnam to study daqi, which started a daqi trend.