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Ceramic artist breaks the mold
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THE world of Chinese ceramic art rarely changes compared to other art forms. Peng Zanbin is trying to change this.
The artist challenges the form’s stereotypes in his new exhibition, “Another Way of Expression,” at the Shanghai Oil Painting & Sculpture Institute’s museum.
Visitors familiar with ceramic art will understand immediately that Peng is creating something different, something new with his pieces.
While the art form is known for detailed landscapes, as well as trees and flowers, Peng’s pieces are much more abstract. It’s almost as though he has created a surreal reality. Moving in for a closer look is even more astonishing as the blurred landscapes vanish, leaving only blocks and lines of black, white, grey and brown.
In one piece, viewers may marvel at rolling waves, done in bright black and ochre lines against a celadon glaze. Up close they look like ink spots.
“In the process of ceramic creation, I have been obsessed with the texture of clay mud left on the porcelain body,” Peng says. “I often use my tools like a wood bar, metal plate, plastic piece, ink brush or a common brush. All of these are great tools for making fully expressive works. With the help of the instrument, the clay will take unexpected forms with texture, leading to unlimited possibilities.”
Born in 1974 in Yugan County, Jiangxi Province, Peng is a graduate of the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute and now teaches there.
The artist also expresses a love for tea, calling it his “favorite thing in life.” He even takes inspiration from it.
Peng says he fuses tea leaves into his ceramic creations including Pu’er, a famous tea grown mainly in Yunnan Province. Dried tea leaves are usually compacted and pressed tightly together into round shapes. He has created some special porcelain pieces by using tea leaves. At first, he says he used these round tea bricks but later started reshaping them into rectangles. When the shape of the tea leaves become abstract and when realism turns into impressionism, it’s apparent that Peng’s understanding or ceramic art has undergone a fundamental transformation.
He is, indeed, creating something truly different.
Date: Through August 29, 10am-4pm, close on Monday
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