Not Clay But… | Kim Joon: Rocker

Ceramics is the focal point of almost all of Korean artist Kim Joon’s work. They take the forms of porcelain dinner plates, his primary motif, and are the anchor of many of his compositions and object assemblies. However Joon is not a ceramist. He makes prints, telling The Heritage Studio that they’re all designed in a 3D modeling program.

When asked by Art Radar to name his favorite artists, Joon said he actually admires musicians more. He idolizes Jimi Hendrix. A few years later Joon produced digital prints in a series he calls Rocker.

Here, Joon pays tribute to acts such as Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane and sundry other bands you’ll hear played in frequent rotation on classic rock radio (with the Sex Pistols as a possible exception). Ceramic hands adorned with album art and song titles are set against porcelain plates which have an Eastern aesthetic.

The hand gestures are a bit of a puzzle, given their context with Western rock music. The hands show an extended thumb, index finger and pinky; they’re not the “devil horns” gesture you’ll see at a typical rock show. The gesture Joon uses is Western sign language for “I love you,” which, given that Joon’s a diehard rock fan, makes sense.

Joon’s sincerity with these tributes is obvious and refreshing, but speaking as someone who grew up hearing these bands played countless times at football games, in potato chip commercials, by classic rock DJs broadcasting from used car dealerships (free balloons and hotdogs for the kids!), by the parents of friends who are telling me for the Nth time about how Woodstock was a once-in-an-eternity event that negated the authenticity of every other form of popular music that came after, he has a long way to go if he wants to contextualize these musicians in a way that separates them from the decades of sad cultural baggage they’ve accumulated.

But Joon approached the series as a fan, not as someone who’s trying to sell you insurance, not as someone who is sermonizing about the supremacy of music that ended when its audience got jobs and elected Ronald Reagan. His goal with the series is worthy and other fans of this genre of music could learn something from him.

Below you’ll find more of Joon’s Rocker prints, along with a couple other images we included of his Blue Jean Blues, series, works that draw inspiration from sources such as The Doors and actor James Dean.

Bill Rodgers is a Contributing Editor at CFile.

Above image: Kim Joon, Rocker- Pink Floyd, 2012, digital print

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