A Brief Introduction

Chinese Scholars’ Rocks (Gongshi), Korean (Suseok), and Japanese (Suiseki), and their relationship to Contemporary Art by Donna Dodson

Chinese Gongshi or scholars’ rocks are naturally occurring or hand carved rocks, which are traditionally appreciated by Chinese scholars. Scholars' rocks can weigh either hundreds of pounds or less than one pound. Korean Suseok and Japanese Suiseki traditions evolved into separate yet related aesthetics.

I have been having conversations with Kemin Hu, who has published numerous books on Chinese Scholars’ Rocks. She is often asked, “Do scholars’ rocks have a spirit?” She says that viewers who appreciate the rocks have a spirit. “True scholars’ rocks should ‘suggest’ something to the viewer.”

In Korea, this tradition is referred to as Viewing Stones. According to Juneu Kim, a scholar and collector of Korean Suseok, this art form “puts more emphasis on what is collected (the stone itself), rather than the method of display. The natural beauty of the stone must not be compromised by human manipulations and distractions.” Juneu Kim, states that all stones gathered in nature have an orientation. They must be displayed as they were discovered. “Stones cannot breathe if they are displayed upside down.” His book, Viewing Stones: Korean Classical Concepts, presents his philosophy and aesthetic as a defining text that elucidates the unique qualities of Korean Stone appreciation.

Movies such as Parasite have brought this esoteric concept of viewing stones into the mainstream. Karen Chernick’s 2/7/20 article in Artnet traces this concept to its roots in Korean art history, A Highly Collectible Rock Plays a Key Role in the Oscar-Nominated Film ‘Parasite.’ Whether they are seen as good luck charms or bad omens, the stones take on the aspirations of the owner. These oddly shaped stones come alive in the imagination of the viewer and suggest familiar shapes like animals, in much the same way that clouds do to the keen observer.

In Japan, large rocks are often surrounded by gravel decoratively raked into rivers with upended stones as the visual focus in garden design. Individual stones are also collected as Suiseki and appreciated indoors. Thus, the aesthetic of spirit stones can refer to the environment or aura of the object as well as the object itself.

Scholars’ Rocks were widely introduced to Western audiences in 1996 through the show of Richard Rosenblum’s personal collection at the Asia Society in New York. Roberta Smith wrote in the NY Times: A scholar’s rock “…exhibition should appeal to anyone who has ever walked along the beach, picked up a pebble or shell or piece of driftwood and taken it home; it follows this mundane impulse into the aesthetic stratosphere of taste, style and connoisseurship. In the process, it blurs the line between art, craft and nature and teaches a great deal about visual perception and imagination. The rocks are in all ways profoundly fugitive, shifting and chimerical, like three-dimensional Rorschach blots.”

My studies have highlighted the pertinence of scholars’ stones within contemporary art. I see them as the original ready-made and as an iconic form of abstraction. The geological shapes and mineral patterns on the stones are not unlike the gestures of a Jackson Pollock painting. My ambition is to re-engage a broad audience to this persistent form of art. This show is an opportunity to experience several contemporary artists who continue the conversation about our connection to nature that the aesthetic of viewing stones symbolizes.