id: 169244 accession number: 2011.135.o share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2011.135.o updated: 2023-08-24 00:48:33.307000 Rediscovery of Poems, 2011. Sungsoo Kim (Korean, b. 1974). Cast glass; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Korean Holiness Church of the Nazarene 2011.135.o title: Rediscovery of Poems title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 2011 creation date earliest: 2011 creation date latest: 2011 current location: 236 Korean creditline: Gift of the Korean Holiness Church of the Nazarene copyright: --- culture: Korea, 21st century technique: cast glass department: Decorative Art and Design collection: Decorative Arts type: Glass find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Sungsoo Kim (Korean, b. 1974) - artist --- measurements: state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art opening date: 2011-03-27T00:00:00 The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011). title: Old and New in Korean Art (Korean art rotation) opening date: 2022-10-28T04:00:00 Old and New in Korean Art (Korean art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 28, 2022-April 23, 2023). title: Material and Immaterial in Korean Modern and Contemporary Art (Korean art rotation) opening date: 2023-04-28T04:00:00 Material and Immaterial in Korean Modern and Contemporary Art (Korean art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 28, 2023-February 25, 2024). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Artist; Cleveland Museum of Art date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Sungsoo Kim found his inspiration in discarded Styrofoam pellets, a type of packaging material, and utilized them as molds for casting glass. Kim was fascinated with the different shapes of the pellets as well as their short life span—after boxes are opened, pellets lose their value and are discarded. Upcyled Styrofoam here is transformed into a powerful poetic line.

The title of this work was inspired by Korean poet Yu Chi-hwan’s poem “Rock.” As the poet challenges the commonly accepted binary between life and death and rebirth and extinction, Kim transforms each Styrofoam pellet into a line celebrating renewed life.

“Rock” by Yu Chi-hwan (1908−1967)
When I die, I will become
a rock, never touched
by compassion, joy, or anger.
While being torn down
by wind and rain,
that rock will only whip itself
inwards in eternal, impersonal silence,
and at last forget its own existence.
Floating clouds, distant thunder!
Though it may dream,
it will never sing,
though broken in pieces,
it will never utter a word—
I will become such a rock. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES