Fig. 19. Lee Seung- taek (이승택 李升澤, b. 1932). Tied White Porcelain (매어진 백자), 1979. Porcelain, 107/8 × 111/2 in. (27.5 × 29 cm). Private collection Her human-siz e cyborgs are not “whole” but fractured, green-bluish-gray?—is its most alluring feature. and their curvaceous shapes, long nails, and breast- like Recognizing that it is a fool’s errand to think one descrip- forms suggest a female gender. Like most of her work, tion would su昀케ce, the Korean American artist Byron Cyborg juxtaposes concepts that are o昀琀en in tension— Kim created Goryeo Green Glaze #1 and Goryeo Green human and machine, paragon and monster, beautiful and Glaze #2, two paintings that are part of a larger series, to grotesque, utopia and dystopia. In creating parts of a replicate and explore celadon’s most sublime and tran- futuristic cyborg in porcelain, Lee connects the past and scendent characteristic (昀椀gs. 22, 23). Through images present, old and new technologies (昀椀gs. 20, 21). Scale is that engage with the decorative motifs and glazes on the also of vital importance here, as these parts are similar in surface of clay bodies, Kim correlates a potter’s ornamen- height to the aforementioned Joseon porcelain vessels tation and glazing process to that of a painter. As Kim (see 昀椀gs. 14, 15, and 17). In this way, Lee illustrates that explains, “The belief in the beauty of Koryŏ [sic] green objecti昀椀cation, particularly of Asian women, goes beyond glaze reminded me of the value placed on abstract the pictorial and sculptural and extends to the ceramic painting in Western culture.”�� By focusing on color, Kim vessels and decorative arts that have long fostered pushes against conventions of tradition and abstraction exoticism and fetishism via such Western decorative without completely abandoning taxonomic structures. styles as Chinoiserie and Japonisme. Through seriality, he de昀椀es the reduction of objects and Goryeo celadon, especially in the West, is synony- cultures to singular characteristics and contends with mous with exceptional Korean art, and its inconsistent, artistic hierarchies and sociocultural environments that indescribable color—is it gray-green? green-blue? inform value and appreciation. 16