Sculpted by Hand — Sculpture and Ceramics at SAF

SAF 2026 has few sculpture and ceramic artists. Yet each practice carries an entirely different materiality, scale, and context. A roly-poly (ottogi) with car paint on resin; a playground of cement and faux gold leaf; a Korean artist making eco-art between New York and Boston; ceramics shaped by earth and fire. And the final work of a Korean total artist who passed in December 2025.

Sculpture — Four Artists

Yang Sun-yeol — Expanded Motherhood That Rises When Fallen

A contemporary artist working across painting and sculpture. Contributes six works from the Ottogi (roly-poly) series to SAF — all finished with car paint on resin. Mother Ya-ho is the matrix of the series.

• Ottogi_Mother Ya-ho · 55×55×120 cm, 2014
• Ottogi Chrome Rainbow (purple top) · 60×60×130 cm, 2022

→ Rising Again When Fallen: Yang Sun-yeol's Ottogi

Choe Hyesu — A Playground of Cement and Gold Leaf

Toulon, France DNAP (2015) → MA in sculpture, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Brussels (2019). Porsche Dreamers On Artists + 7th Gasong Art Prize Excellence Award (2021); Angeli Museum Award (2024). Both SAF contributions are already sold.

• Playground n'2 · cement, faux gold leaf, wax, acrylic; 72.7×91 cm, 2023
• Playground n'3 · same materials, 2023

→ From Brussels to Yongin, a Playground of Cement and Gold Leaf: Choe Hyesu's Finite Life

Park Sohyeong — Eco-Sculpture of Plants and Fungal Spores

SVA BFA (2021) → Boston University MFA Sculpture (2023). Sculpture, installation, video, and AI-media artist working between Seoul, Boston, and New York. Member of Boston's climate-crisis artist group I3C. SAF contributions are flat installations combining watercolor, ink drawing, box, and hanji.

• Botanical Garden · watercolor, ink, box, hanji; 75×125 cm, 2025
• Revealed Di · same materials, 49×53 cm, 2025

→ From Boston to Gangneung, Fragments of a Plant Garden: Park Sohyeong's Eco-Sculpture

Lee Iktae (1947–2025) — Total Artist, In Memoriam

Director of Korea's first independent film Between Morning and Evening (1970); founder of The Fourth Group in the early 1970s; in the US 1977–1999; Volcano Island performance after the 1992 LA riots; Ice Wall at Seogang Bridge and Tongil Bridge in 1999. Passed away December 7, 2025. SAF 2026 is one of the last acts of solidarity he agreed to during his lifetime.

• 山 · ink on hanji, 2021
• Beam Letter · acrylic on hanji, 2011
• Sisyphus's Lover · acrylic on aluminum, 2025

→ Translator of the Unseen: In Memoriam Lee Iktae (1947–2025)

Ceramics / Craft

Kim Ju-ho — Form from Earth and Fire

A longtime master of ceramic art. A lifetime of shaping earth and passing it through fire.

• Milky Way at My Fingertips · ceramic, ₩3,000,000

→ Kim Ju-ho: Form Shaped by Earth and Fire

Collecting Sculpture and Ceramics

Three-dimensional works require different considerations from flat work.

• Plinths and holding furniture: sculpture is placed, not hung. A stable base is essential.
• Spatial margin: keep at least 40 cm around the work for viewing paths.
• Vibration and impact: avoid heights children and pets reach. Ceramics especially.
• Direct sunlight: no less sensitive than painting. Causes color shift and metal corrosion.

Detailed care and installation:

• Artwork Storage and Care
• A Complete Guide to Hanging Artwork
• All Works in the Sculpture Category
• All Works in the Ceramics / Craft Category

Solidarity of Matter

84.9% of Korean artists are excluded from institutional finance. Sales of works by SAF-exhibiting artists cycle into a mutual-aid fund, returning as low-interest loans to fellow artists.

If painting is a pledge on a surface, sculpture and ceramics are pledges in matter. Matter shaped by one artist's hand holding up another artist's studio. As an ottogi does not fall, SAF holds each person's center so one life doesn't topple easily.

The Background of December 2025

During SAF 2026's preparation, the artist Lee Iktae passed away. SAF sits in the extension of his lifetime's art of solidarity — the seed planted over the LA riots, the ice walls on Han River bridges. The three works left by the translator of the unseen keep speaking.

Further Reading

• Art Care 101 — How to Keep Your Collection for Generations
• The Craft of Gold Leaf in Korean Art — From Buddhist Paintings to Contemporary Canvases
• Behind the Bank's Closed Door — How the SAF Mutual Aid Fund Works

Start Collecting

• 7 Mistakes First-Time Art Buyers Make (And a Post-Purchase Checklist)
• From ₩100K to ₩5M: Choosing Your First Artwork by Budget

Related reading

If this piece helped, you may also enjoy these related articles:

• Painting on Janji — An Eunkyung and the Contemporary Voice of Korean Painting — Janji is a thick traditional Korean surface made by layering hanji. Through An Eunkyung's paintings, we read its absorption, thickness, and quiet emotional effect.
• Understanding Dansaekhwa: The Korean Monochrome — A painting that repeats the same stroke a thousand times — why is that art? The key to Dansaekhwa isn't the single color but the repetition. From Park Seo-bo to Ha Chong-hyun, the aesthetics of Korean monochrome.
• Introduction to Minjung Art Through Shin Hak-chul — Resistance in the 1980s, reappraisal in the 2000s, reinterpretation in the 2020s. Minjung art never disappeared — follow a lineage still alive as one spine of Korean art, read through Shin Hak-chul.