164209-1660227 55 x 40 x 18 cm

210243-211109 16 x 20 x 14 cm

145763-147167 20 x 20 x 20 cm

WFG 31 55 x 55 x 30 cm

WFG 02 14 x 90 x 25 cm

WFG 01 19 x 32 x 72 cm

The laps of time involves duration, repetition, transformation, circulation. It is continuous, repetitive and circular. the change always follows with the repetition and circulation. This time is along with nature as well as human. However, modern society increasingly separates it between human and nature, which has become the main cause of the alienation of human beings, and prevalent in modern society. In the boundary of art, a study of the laps of time is ultimately a study of the human.

Samuel Beckett revealed the laps of time in nature in his play ‘Waiting for Godot’, by the two main characters repeatedly waiting for the Godot. Beckett’s plays become the motives of my work and title. Working with the clay as a natural material is unifying the time of nature and human. The clay contains the time of duration, repetition, transformation and circulation.

And the artist inevitably harmonize himself with the laps of time in nature. and the one who work with have to match the time with it inevitably, in order to work with. I think the essentiality of the clay material is the laps of time, and worked through with the clay to reveal the laps of time. The continuos repetition of labor would be inevitable in order to visualize infinite of time because human is mortal. Putting the serial numbers and attaching tens of thousands of small blocks leads me to the stage of impassivity and makes super temporal experience.

I discover myself in super temporal experience. The experience of these can be passed through by the work made by constant repetition of labor, to the audience too.I tried to visualize and record the laps of time in nature by working with it. The continuing repetition of labor helps me to overcome with alienation of human beings and to discover myself by the super temporal experience. Recording the laps of time gets its meaning only when performed repeatedly for a long time and it can deliver to audiences.

So, I think the last three years of work experience is not me long. On the basis of what I have studied, I will try to get closer to the repetitive and circular time of nature by continuing repetition of labor. - BAE SE JIN

Bae Sejin is a ceramicist based in Seoul. He received his B.F.A and M.F.A. from Seoul National University in 2010 and 2012, respectively.

In 2015, he received the bronze prize in the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale International Competition, silver in the Cheongju International Craft Competition and bronze in the Korea Ceramic Arts Award of Korea. He has also been selected for numerous other ceramic and craft competitions in Korea and Taipei.

He has participated in a number of group and solo exhibitions in the UK, the United States, Italy, Germany, and many more.

BAE SE JIN