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An old tradition in young hands
00:36 UTC+8 October 25, 2010
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A new generation of ceramists are using innovative techniques, Western influences and an abstract approach to bring a modern twist to one of China's oldest art forms. Xu Wenwen checks out a new exhibition showcasing many of these talents.
China is well-known for its ceramic ware, an old art form that has been developing since the dynastic periods. Today, contemporary Chinese ceramists make amazing pieces as well, and some apply greater innovation or interpret the traditional art in a modern way.
The 7th China Contemporary Youth Ceramists' Work Biennial, held at Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou, provides an outlook on modern Chinese ceramic art by exhibiting 200-plus works made by artists from Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Most people believe Chinese ceramics to be bottles, plates and other kinds of utensils that can have both visual and practical value, but the exhibition involving ceramic and ceramic painting works suggests that chinaware is much more than that.
A squashed tea pot, giant rice made by white porcelain and an abstract pottery cow displayed at the exhibition depict another world of ceramics - ceramic sculptures.
As Chinese clay has high plasticity and flexibility, it is a great material for sculptures, from which artists' minds can be read just like other artistic mediums.
But unlike ancient Chinese ceramic sculptures that are mostly gods, totems and horses and soldiers like the terracotta warriors, modern Chinese sculptures reflect the reality of society, and are much more abstract due to the influence of Western art.
"Day-to-Day Account" is six huge pottery-made account books.
Though they look similar, the transverse sections of each "book" feature distinctive details.
Its maker, Zuo Zhengyao, the director of the University City Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, says he once created a paper "Day-to-Day Account" by collecting all kinds of receipts in one book to embody modern people's high-speed daily life.
The ceramic "Day-to-Day Account" is a new version that uses a large amount of pottery clay to indicate the massive history of today's person.
Pottery sculpture "Misplaced Matrix III" made by Taiwan ceramist Chang Ching-yuan is one piece from a series with a theme that is modern, abstract and tries to reflect social reality.
Variety
Besides an iron box, a pottery-made orange sponge-like object is twisted and full of scars. While the size of the two objects are similar, it seems impossible to place the orange matrix into the box as it is bumped and damaged.
"The work is about cultural identification," says Chang, the associate professor from a Tainan university.
"Taiwan has been influenced by a multitude of cultures in the past decades because of historical causes, and the sculpture indicates a dialectical process of searching for the roots of our original culture."
Though all works are ceramic, the forms of sculptures vary as chinaware can be low-fired, high-fired, glazed, unglazed, colored or plain.
In contemporary ceramic art, the variety is much more developed.
Sichuan Province artist Zhou Xiaobing has insisted on making works about Tibet for years. His work "Tibet Saussurea" at the show features three mixed colors - yellowish brown to represent earth, black symbolizing rocks, and a little green means scarce Saussurea, the precious flower of Tibet.
Sun Lijuan, a master of the China Academy of Art, exhibited two abstract sculptures last year.
Human bodies spliced by slices of white pottery stretch and look up at the sky, identifying people's endless desires.
Sun partially glazed every joint of the slices, so that the whole body is full of a yellow and white contrast, showing the works' texture, as well as symbolizing modern people's inner contrast.
The Westernizing change also occurs in ceramic painting works drawn on porcelain boards.
Compared with old ceramic paintings that concentrated on sceneries just like traditional Chinese paintings on paper, modern paintings at the show portray abstract "Picasso-style" pictures in rich colors and with deep, modern meanings.
As well as the sculptures and paintings, pots, vases and plates made by today's artists in a traditional way are also featured in the show.
However, they are endowed with unique innovation, such as traditional dark-red enameled pottery with jade embedded in the pot lid, vases decorated with abstract pictures and bowls designed with bumps.
The biennial has been held since 1998 and is one of the platforms for young ceramists. The show encourages young artists to carry forward the tradition and to explore new areas of the art.
The Taiwan artist Chang Ching-yuan especially praised the show and Chinese mainland's advantageous environment for young ceramists.
"The rapid economy development in the past decade ensures students a positive future, so that they can improve; while profound traditional culture offers them the speed to learn quickly."
While Zuo Zhengyao, the artist from south China's Guangdong Province, says many of the students' works at the show focus too much on techniques, he suggested young artists are more liberal and "liberal works can walk longer in the way of art."
Date: through October 30
Venue: Zhejiang Art Museum, 138 Nanshan Rd
Tel: (0571) 8707-8700
China is well-known for its ceramic ware, an old art form that has been developing since the dynastic periods. Today, contemporary Chinese ceramists make amazing pieces as well, and some apply greater innovation or interpret the traditional art in a modern way.
The 7th China Contemporary Youth Ceramists' Work Biennial, held at Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou, provides an outlook on modern Chinese ceramic art by exhibiting 200-plus works made by artists from Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Most people believe Chinese ceramics to be bottles, plates and other kinds of utensils that can have both visual and practical value, but the exhibition involving ceramic and ceramic painting works suggests that chinaware is much more than that.
A squashed tea pot, giant rice made by white porcelain and an abstract pottery cow displayed at the exhibition depict another world of ceramics - ceramic sculptures.
As Chinese clay has high plasticity and flexibility, it is a great material for sculptures, from which artists' minds can be read just like other artistic mediums.
But unlike ancient Chinese ceramic sculptures that are mostly gods, totems and horses and soldiers like the terracotta warriors, modern Chinese sculptures reflect the reality of society, and are much more abstract due to the influence of Western art.
"Day-to-Day Account" is six huge pottery-made account books.
Though they look similar, the transverse sections of each "book" feature distinctive details.
Its maker, Zuo Zhengyao, the director of the University City Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, says he once created a paper "Day-to-Day Account" by collecting all kinds of receipts in one book to embody modern people's high-speed daily life.
The ceramic "Day-to-Day Account" is a new version that uses a large amount of pottery clay to indicate the massive history of today's person.
Pottery sculpture "Misplaced Matrix III" made by Taiwan ceramist Chang Ching-yuan is one piece from a series with a theme that is modern, abstract and tries to reflect social reality.
Variety
Besides an iron box, a pottery-made orange sponge-like object is twisted and full of scars. While the size of the two objects are similar, it seems impossible to place the orange matrix into the box as it is bumped and damaged.
"The work is about cultural identification," says Chang, the associate professor from a Tainan university.
"Taiwan has been influenced by a multitude of cultures in the past decades because of historical causes, and the sculpture indicates a dialectical process of searching for the roots of our original culture."
Though all works are ceramic, the forms of sculptures vary as chinaware can be low-fired, high-fired, glazed, unglazed, colored or plain.
In contemporary ceramic art, the variety is much more developed.
Sichuan Province artist Zhou Xiaobing has insisted on making works about Tibet for years. His work "Tibet Saussurea" at the show features three mixed colors - yellowish brown to represent earth, black symbolizing rocks, and a little green means scarce Saussurea, the precious flower of Tibet.
Sun Lijuan, a master of the China Academy of Art, exhibited two abstract sculptures last year.
Human bodies spliced by slices of white pottery stretch and look up at the sky, identifying people's endless desires.
Sun partially glazed every joint of the slices, so that the whole body is full of a yellow and white contrast, showing the works' texture, as well as symbolizing modern people's inner contrast.
The Westernizing change also occurs in ceramic painting works drawn on porcelain boards.
Compared with old ceramic paintings that concentrated on sceneries just like traditional Chinese paintings on paper, modern paintings at the show portray abstract "Picasso-style" pictures in rich colors and with deep, modern meanings.
As well as the sculptures and paintings, pots, vases and plates made by today's artists in a traditional way are also featured in the show.
However, they are endowed with unique innovation, such as traditional dark-red enameled pottery with jade embedded in the pot lid, vases decorated with abstract pictures and bowls designed with bumps.
The biennial has been held since 1998 and is one of the platforms for young ceramists. The show encourages young artists to carry forward the tradition and to explore new areas of the art.
The Taiwan artist Chang Ching-yuan especially praised the show and Chinese mainland's advantageous environment for young ceramists.
"The rapid economy development in the past decade ensures students a positive future, so that they can improve; while profound traditional culture offers them the speed to learn quickly."
While Zuo Zhengyao, the artist from south China's Guangdong Province, says many of the students' works at the show focus too much on techniques, he suggested young artists are more liberal and "liberal works can walk longer in the way of art."
Date: through October 30
Venue: Zhejiang Art Museum, 138 Nanshan Rd
Tel: (0571) 8707-8700
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