The name Samcheonggak ("Three- Clarity Tower Pavilion") originates from Samcheongdan ("Three- Clarity Altar"), a sacred place where Taoist services were regularly held in the days gone by. A special exhibition of ceramics sculpture takes place in this special venue under the title, A Prayer , for a month starting from April 18th, 2004. The genre of modern ceramics sculpture was established in the USA in the 1950s when a group of artists began artistic activities which is described today in connection with the words abstract expressionism . The movement later became widespread across the world, and was introduced to Korea by interested art students in the 1980s.

Hun-gi Lee is an artist who has attracted attention from the Korean art world with works representing traditional Korean folk beliefs in modern artistic vocabulary. He has been interested in subjects such as the peace and fortune of the community, protection of the village people from evil forces and fecundity ? these were important issues in the days when the minds of Korean people were purer. He expresses such themes via harmonious amalgamation of the vertical and horizontal lines in the objects such as a phallic stone, village guardian tree (¡°dangsu namu¡±), guardian pole (¡°sotdae¡±) and stone pagoda. In this exhibition, Lee hopes to share with viewers the fundamental desires buried deep in the minds of the Korean people with works displayed against the warm sunshine of spring in Samcheonggak.

The highlight of this exhibition includes an array of small objects made by the Raku technique in which a formed body is first fired at 800-900¡ÆC, glazed, and fired again, this time at 950-1,100¡ÆC. Then, the body is taken out of the kiln during the second firing to adjust the color of the glaze by burying it into a heap of sawdust or hay that generates smoke during this process. Finally, the object is put into water to cool it down abruptly. As this unique pottery technique spread from Japan to Europe in the early 20 th century, many wrongly believed that it was invented in Japan. The truth is, as Lee makes it clear in this exhibition, that it was invented by a 16 th -century Joseon potter named Jang-u Song.