Stone Buddhas
Stone Buddhas in Korea
by Hansik Ahn
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About the Book
Buddhist sculpture in Korea began with the introduction of Buddhism in the late 4th century. Although early relics are rare, Buddhism achieved its heyday after the 6th century, leaving a lot of cultural heritage for future generations, and Buddhist sculpture has become an essential element in the history of Korean sculpture.
Above all, one of the reasons why Buddhist sculpture has been valued historically and is constantly receiving attention from the public is probably because it is the only Korean sculpture that reproduces a 'human figure'. Like a statue in the form of a human, Buddhist sculptures were historical figures called ‘Sakyamuni’, sometimes ‘gods’ or ‘absolute ones’, and even treated as common secular figures of the time.
On the other hand, Buddha statues made of metal materials such as 'Golden and Bronze Buddha', 'Bronze Buddha', and 'Iron Buddha' create a very aristocratic atmosphere with their smooth surface, luster, and delicate depiction, whereas 'Stone Buddha' presents well a rough surface and heavy texture of granite. The sense of volume and the boldly engraved lines make it feel somewhat closer to the figure of the people. Just like the teachings of Buddhism to believe and accept that all sentient beings are Buddhas, the stone Buddha is not only the image of Buddha but also the people living in the time itself.
To convey the presence of the stone Buddha in various ways in the space, I decided to follow a sculptural approach that allows the stone Buddha photo to exist in the space rather than the traditional method of printing it on paper. In addition, to vividly capture the traces of a long time on the surface of the stone Buddha, we avoided printing images evenly on a flat surface and applied a layering method that can express rich texture by stacking layers.
As for the subject matter of the work, stone Buddhas from Baekje, Unified Silla, and Goryeo in the 6th and 12th centuries of Korea were mainly dealt with. I think it is meant just to il
Above all, one of the reasons why Buddhist sculpture has been valued historically and is constantly receiving attention from the public is probably because it is the only Korean sculpture that reproduces a 'human figure'. Like a statue in the form of a human, Buddhist sculptures were historical figures called ‘Sakyamuni’, sometimes ‘gods’ or ‘absolute ones’, and even treated as common secular figures of the time.
On the other hand, Buddha statues made of metal materials such as 'Golden and Bronze Buddha', 'Bronze Buddha', and 'Iron Buddha' create a very aristocratic atmosphere with their smooth surface, luster, and delicate depiction, whereas 'Stone Buddha' presents well a rough surface and heavy texture of granite. The sense of volume and the boldly engraved lines make it feel somewhat closer to the figure of the people. Just like the teachings of Buddhism to believe and accept that all sentient beings are Buddhas, the stone Buddha is not only the image of Buddha but also the people living in the time itself.
To convey the presence of the stone Buddha in various ways in the space, I decided to follow a sculptural approach that allows the stone Buddha photo to exist in the space rather than the traditional method of printing it on paper. In addition, to vividly capture the traces of a long time on the surface of the stone Buddha, we avoided printing images evenly on a flat surface and applied a layering method that can express rich texture by stacking layers.
As for the subject matter of the work, stone Buddhas from Baekje, Unified Silla, and Goryeo in the 6th and 12th centuries of Korea were mainly dealt with. I think it is meant just to il
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