Investigating the Collection: Comets and Curves, Bongsang Cho's Newest Work

Bongsang Cho

Specialty: Jewelry, utilizing modern technology to surpass previous restrictions

Most Recent Craft Show: American Craft Exposition 2013

Upcoming Craft Show: Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show 2013

In Bongsang Cho’s world, geometry is the language which connects humanity and nature, going from the inorganic to the organic and back again. Endeavoring to express this in the vocabulary of his art, he has produced several series of work which continue undergoing refinements. Currently there are two of these unique bodies of jewelry on which he is focusing his efforts.

To understand his geometric Comets brooches, one must first venture into the stars; Cho’s stars, that is. In another branch of his work, Cho utilized enamel and silver and gold flakes to produce starry skies and multi-hued, metalliferous forms he titles his Stellar series. Starting from one geometric collection of enameled panels, Cho stretched the form off fractally, but at each point maintaining the connection between each extension. Either dappling the shape with an enamel gradient, or, by taking a pure black form, studding it with gold leaf or metal granules, he orchestrated his interpretation of the cosmos.

Comet Brooch & Pendant Series #1, of copper, vitreous
enamel, and 23 karat gold leaf, 4” x 4” x 1.5” inches, 2012.

From this line, one can see the precursors to his more recent Comets work. In the wire frameworks and enamel panels of this series, he forms the celestial object’s tail and head; abstract, modern interpretations translated into a brooch. Using geometric forms, pentagons, either symmetrical or with some lopsidedness, with a wire framework behind which lightly imitates the foreground shapes, Cho’s meteorological representation comes into focus. For some of these pieces, such as Comet #6, the abstraction of the form almost leads to it looking like a botanical entity, something Cho favors in much of his work. The “flower” is five enameled panels, like petals, with enamel splashes that intimate the flower’s stamen, pistil, and other assorted innards.

Comet Brooch & Pendant Series #6, of copper,
sterling silver, vitreous enamel, and 23 karat
gold leaf, 3” x 2” x 1” inches, 2012.

With his Splash and Orbit series, we see elements from Stellar, but also the developed wirework that emerges in his Comets and previous Blossom suite. In fact, through Cho’s oeuvre one can see characteristics developed in one series being incorporated into another, but played with and altered. Here, he gambols with the wire to create reckless circles and curves that are dotted with silver balls, like thorns on a rose, vines or barbed wire, that makes the brooch visually outstanding. It projects a mood, perhaps curiosity, perhaps aggressive, but certainly not silence. However, this visual chaos eventually resolves itself, as the motif of wild curvature rebounds throughout the piece. Cut aluminum panels are covered with squiggly spirals, which echo the steel wire ellipses. A splash of enamel and cast copper introduces color and contrast, the molten form at odds with the sharp, clean cut surfaces of the silver-hued flanges and dark
steel circles.

Splashing & Orbit Brooch & Pendant #2 of splash cast copper,
23 karat gold leaf, vitreous enamel, laser welded steel, silver granules,
and aluminum, 3.50” x 5” x 1.50” inches, 2011.

That each series is distinct (sometimes so noticeably as to appear to be from different artists), yet retaining stylistic genes between them demonstrate Cho’s dedication to expression. As he continues to explore the earth and the heavens, there will undoubtably be new ground to cover.

Comet Brooch & Pendant Series #4 (left), #5 (right), of copper, sterling silver, vitreous enamel, and 23
karat gold leaf, 3” x 3” x 0.5” inches (left), 3” x 2” x 0.5” inches (right), 2012.

Steel Corsage: Bongsang Cho

Bongsang Cho
Steel Corsage

Specialty: Jewelry, utilizing modern technology to surpass previous restrictions

Most Recent Craft Show: Smithsonian Craft Show 2012

Upcoming Craft Show: American Craft Exposition 2012


Bongsang Cho came to the United States from Seoul, South Korea, and brought with him a dedicated enthusiasm for metalsmithing, and an ethereal sense of grace and impermanency which gives a delicacy to his metalwork. He graduated from Hanyang University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Metals and Jewelry, and has recently graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a MFA, where he utilized several modern pieces of machinery in the college's jewelry department, such as the laser welder, to break new ground.

Cho's aesthetic is derived from the mysterious connections he senses between the organic, the artificial, and humanity. The flower is for him a metaphor which represents the essential nature of life, and extends beyond flora to embodying human existence, its connections and its transitoriness. The roots of the flowering plant are the same as the hidden relationships which support each individual life. It is for this reason that, abstractly and in literal interpretation, Cho uses the form of the flower in much of his jewelry and sculpture.

Night Blossom Brooch, of steel, sterling silver,
enamel, 24 karat keum boo, laser welding and
enameling, 7.5" x 3.5" x 2.5", Winter 2011

From the mammoth to the miniature, one can find this theme expressed, whether abstractly or literally, in his forms. A large copper sculpture of a flower, with spoon-like elements clustered together in the center for the plant's stamen, is like a prehistoric precursor to his delicate flower brooches of steel and silver, down to the hammered indentations on the protruding, arcing petals. The relation between the two is palpable, but for scale.  And yet Cho has many ways of exploring the flower form, which branch out themselves like pan-dimensional petals.

Tools, Enthusiasm, and Life #3, of copper,
enamel and 23 karat gold leaf, forging and
enameling, 48" x 16" x 12", Summer 2011

Stellar Brooch series, of copper and enamel, laser welding and enameling,
4" x 2.25" x 1.5", Spring 2012

For example, his more recent enameled and laser-welded Stellar Brooch series represent his underlying motif in abstract form. The highly geometric shapes of these brooches render them seemingly inorganic, but with splashes of color, and bearing out the vague outline of the form, Cho suggests the organic in the inorganic abstract. The folds of the piece become the petals of a Cubist flower. Cho is quite proud of this series, in part because the laser-welding process allowed him to bypass a previous restriction of enameling, that it can't be traditionally soldered after completion. Technology allows him to bypass this barrier to new artistic effect, and that is part of his pleasure in this series. The Night Blossom Brooch also exhibits use of the laser welder, Cho's favorite tool. The little sterling silver balls that dot the piece were attached using the machine.

Another brooch piece is literally a flower; the front stage actor which casts an elongated shadow across the backdrop, forming a waving crowd of hands. The flower represents a person or a life in many of Cho's pieces. Here, the flower takes the place of a human singer, actor or other performer, but also might represent many people, as the panoply of cast shadows imply. The feeling of a stage set and the evocative jubilance of people in the background conjure up the feeling of a rock concert that makes the Silhouette Brooch series exciting and emotive.

Silhouette Brooch series, of steel, aluminum, copper and pigment, laser
welding and enameling, 3.5" x 2.5" x 1", Fall 2011

Wild Life Brooch series, of copper and enamel, laser welding and
enameling, 3" x 2.5" x 1", 2" x 1.5" x 1", Spring 2012

Bongsang was born near Seoul, and thus grew up with the expansive urban environment of that city. From this, a more intimate association with construction must have led to his urban flower, composed of hard hats on enameled wire spirals, the black suggesting unpainted metal or industrial corrosion. The hard hats are the lives of the workers, who bloom from their own soil of a sorts, the asphalt and concrete of the city. The Wild Life Brooch series seems to suggest an admiration of this occupation by the artist, to typify it so as a flower. That which is deemed ordinary is also everpresent and essential to the tapestry of the living environment in which it resides.

Bongsang came to the United States after a meeting with Professor Komelia Okim in Korea. After attending a lecture by Okim, and having a conversation about American life, Cho traveled to the United States. He has been an assistant to veteran jeweler Namu Cho. He has now applied and been accepted to several craft shows, and will be attending more at the end of this year.

His work can be seen at www.bongsangcho.com.

Winter Night Brooch series, of fine silver and copper, laser

welding, 4.5" x 1.5" x 1", Spring 2012