Something I didn’t take the remotest interest in until I came to Korea is pottery. Today I saw an exhibition at a hospital of all places. At a time when I’ve been rebelling against the tyranny of the object, these things are kind of a reminder to chill out and retreat from the MP3/digital mania. Abstract concepts don’t exude an aura, do they?

This pottery collection was themed on images of the sea. 35 objects. A big bowl with orange and blue melted together, perfectly matching the color of the setting sun melting into the water — while the spine of silver fish jutted out, snaking their way up the vase. Another object at the bottom was round like another bowl, but then was engulfed by a head of white coral. Another piece of pottery was covered by barnacles. One piece called the “Deep Sea” was at first glance just a big solid dark colored bowl, but if you peered into it from the top, you could see the distortion, the confusion, the warping of vision that you might experience peering into the deeps, the limits of where light can reach. The intensity of color, the textures — this perfect image of the unstable dance of colors of the sea melted into pottery. It was really something else to see.