Painting ‘fire’ on ceramics
Print Edition
PAINTING on ceramics is extremely difficult. Ceramists require both a deep understanding of painting and the kiln process. Experimentation is a word frequently used by ceramists as one successful piece may come from hundreds of experiments. Shanghai Daily recommends several Chinese ceramists who are boldly forging new paths in the art.
Wei Jiansong
Painter Wei Jiansong is one of the artists who is revolutionizing Chinese ceramics. He is using his ink-wash painting skills and transferring them to porcelain.
He says he lived in Japan for 15 years, where he gained an understanding of ceramics and an appreciation for a slow-paced life.
He is now considered one of the few Chinese ceramists able to paint on porcelain that has been fired in a high-temperature kiln. He says fire is at the core of his art.
“This is a dialogue between the artist and the fire,” says Wei, who was born in 1959. “Fire determines the trace, the texture, the color and the expression on the final production.
“The most exciting thing about the work is the colors on the glaze, as sometimes the outcome is different from what I am expecting,” he adds. “The art on ceramics is not limited to the shape or the colors, but the beauty of the furnace transmutation.”
Hao Zhilei
Hao Zhilei is a graduate of the Academy of Ceramics of Jingdezhen but has been deeply influenced by the Western tableau. His favorite artist is Zao Wou-ki, the international abstract master.
“I fancy the colors and splashes that he conjures up, so I thought that I might try something similar with ceramics,” says the artist who was born in Shandong Province in 1983.
Hao focuses on the striking contrast of colors, their proportion on the tableau and the whole arrangement. Abstract ceramics, in his eyes, are a miraculous world of colors and light.
“I have my own factory that produces daily porcelain ware,” he says. “The tea set that I created is popular because they are very traditional in shape and glaze. I am quite a contradictory person, don’t you think?”
But for him, this balances both his life and art.
“Perhaps I am still young, and I don’t want to be fixed into one single lifestyle or art style,” he says. “I feel there are many possibilities ahead of me. When I am creating my own art on ceramics, for example, like the abstract one, I don’t care about what others think. I feel free to do what is in my heart.
“Of course, modernizing Chinese ceramics isn’t easy but I want to try. At the very least, I want my work to stand out from that of other ceramists.”
Lu Yunhua
Born in 1960 in Shanghai, Lu Yunhua used to be a painter but he gradually moved into the world of porcelain.
“For me, ceramics is a kind of art media,” he says. “It is born with a feminine nobility and elegance. Chinese are rightly proud of antique Chinese porcelain but too often modern porcelain is ignored. For nearly 100 years, we did not innovate or create superb porcelain works except for Eight Friends of Zhushan and No. 7501 Porcelain.
“Japan, Britain, Germany, and even Italy have moved porcelain into the 21st century. The main reason for our failure is that we pay too much attention to traditional techniques rather than exploring new ideas.”
Several famous Chinese artists, including Lu, started delving in ceramics around 2000.
“I try to bring new artistic concepts and modern aesthetics to porcelain art and fuse them with contemporary forms and colors,” he says.
Lu says painting on porcelain is difficult.
“It’s like tattooing on a beautiful nude woman,” he says. “You need passion and concentration. You should appreciate her every detail and should be sensitive to every subtle change of rhythm.”
The artist says the abstract patterns and shapes of his porcelain represent a woman who is adorably subtle.
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