THE NIRVANA OF THE CLAY
─ Introductory section before the exhibition of CLAY NIRVANA II

With their bodies made of clay, ceramics achieve immortality through the test of fire. Nowadays, burning techniques have been rather mature, nevertheless, the unique charm of ceramics featured by “thirty percent of the life is doomed and the left depends on the struggling” is somewhat cleared up by the all mighty modern context. When people in the field of art talk about ceramics, they are either discussing just the techniques or referring to them solely as a kind of material, which is quiet disturbing.

CLAY NIRVANA series is initiated with GaoZhenyu’s solo exhibition of ceramic art last year. In the preface of that exhibition, Yin Jinan remarked ” Fire is a natural element, while the clay comes from the earth. Human beings are the ones who connect the sky and the earth”, so “the artists should develop humanity to harmonize the sky and the earth”. The works in front of us have all gone through the torturing procedures of kneading, modeling, carving and painting. Some even go beyond the burning of fire, and are finally displayed in the form of videos or short films. The clay is made into vessels, which contain the artists’ perceptions of life, while the intelligence of individuals give life to the clay by virtue of the magic power of fire. Its form and its content are integrated into one that delivering the uniqueness of each individual artist. In the production of ceramics, the enchantments and limitations of materials co-exist through the whole process. If the nature of the materials is defied, their essential properties will not be retained; while if their nature is too much preserved, they will lack originality and all the labor seems not necessary anymore. Artists manage to strike a balance in this dilemma with their sensitivity, passion and inner peace. This is the base for their work with clay. Contemporary art works in different forms, which are usually claimed to be pieces made by masters or instructors, are truly agitating and annoying. Works that are perceptible and intelligible like these in this exhibition are rare now.

“Ni Huan” actually means nirvana, and here we can understand it as “the nirvana of the clay”. If viewers treat the works in this exhibition as traces of artists’ life experience and try to perceive the miracle of rebirth, they will surely gain some unexpected pleasure, the kind of pleasure that arise when one see the sunshine after a terrible storm.

Artists: BianXiaomeng, GengXue, Liu Xi, Shen Li, Yang Song, Zhang Jun, Zhao Meng, Zhu Guodong
Exhibition Dates: September 26─October26, 2015
Opening Ceremony: 4:00pm, September 26, 2015
Exhibition Venue: No.55 Art Space
Address: No.55, Hegezhuang, Chaoyang District, 100102 Beijing, China
Tel. : + 86 10 64314676