Feng Shu

A Discussion of Shu FENG’s Art                     

by I-Chi HSU

About half a year ago, I saw some ceramic art works done by FENG Shu and other artists of his generation. They really moved me and made me think deeply. It felt like some of my long holding questions were starting to be resolved. Feng Shu’s work is a type of standard, and I hope I can express some of my opinions through talking about his works.

The Challenges faced by Contemporary Ceramic Art
I have been following the world’s development of modern ceramic art works, especially the relationship between ceramic art works and non-functional art works. Why are ceramics being unintentionally being pushed out of the picture by nonfunctional pieces of art? Why is there a huge gap in status between ceramics and paintings? This is a universally valid question. This question has been a constant topic of debated around the world’s art circles. In the early part of the century, this wasn’t a problem. The art works of that time had few classifications and were simple. Ceramics were mainly engineered for functional uses. Even when they were creative and artistic, they were treated as crafts. After World War II, the trend of modern art’s popularity moved from Paris to New York. This encouraged a strong sense of individuality and abstract expressionism, which set the tone for contemporary art at that time. It also affected the ceramic circle. Ceramic artists started to do non-functional art work and departed from the traditional crafts. The term Ceramic Art was then established. One of the first ceramic artists was Peter Voulkos. His jar was no longer functional but a piece of ceramic art work. But the line between ceramic art and fine art is still not clear. Would ceramic art be excluded from fine art circles? Would the value of ceramic art could always be less than the value of the fine art? These questions are still being debated in the world’s art circles.

In the western world, that movement has been advancing for more than 50 years until today. In Asia, due to the conflict of wars, many countries have followed it for only the last 10 to 20 years. The fact of China’s acceptance of modern ceramics only came about 10 years after the cultural revolution. Now its development in china is even weaker, due to the influence of China’s deeply rooted ceramic tradition. In the world’s eyes, functional ceramic wares will never disappear due to the rising popularity of contemporary ceramic art. At the same time, contemporary ceramic art, can not be the only pieces of ceramic crafts. Now, some functional ceramic wares are moving into the realm of contemporary design and can even be called ceramic art. All these factors make their definitions fuzzy and hard to single out a particular piece as the ceramic art. The greatest influence is from the innate deep connection between the ceramic artists and the medium of clay. It’s because the constraints of this medium, that modern ceramics can not be purely artistic. Even after 50 years, the western world still debates this problem.

Ceramic Art Development in China
In China, ceramic art was only developed at the college level. When China was opened from the cultural revolution in 1979, ceramic education was mainly taught in the Central Academy of Applied Art and Craft (now the Tsinghua Art College) and the Jingdezhen Ceramic College to train traditional ceramic artists for the first 15 years. No contemporary ceramic art teachers were available then, and there were no international ceramic art exchanges. Since 1995, international the ceramic art exchange has greatly increased. Ceramic artists also enjoy working in the contemporary art field. Even so, the debate of what qualities gives a piece ceramic art status still exists in China and is more intense than ever because of China’s strong ceramic traditions.        

FENG Shu – A Example of a New Generation Chinese Ceramic Artist
My opinions of FENG Shu and his generation’s art are influenced by the factors described above. FENG was born in 1981, two years after China emerged from the confines of cultural revolution. He grew up in a middle class family with comfortable means which facilitated his many interests. He enjoyed drawing from the age of 3, and was always being doted on. He was always carefree, and easy to please. The cultural revolution didn’t leave a mark on him. His sense of beauty didn’t have any particular goal, nor a fervent excitement, but was peaceful. His generation was more politically passive and therefore had more freedom. It was much easier for them to break traditions yet they also easily accepted the old traditions. In the past, art schools would foster some especially talented ceramic artists, but in the traditional and familiar forms. Feng Shu’s generation was different. They were ambitious and had a sense of achieving a goal of doing something different. This was the approximate starting point. While FENG Shu went from high school to art school at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, drawing was always his strong suit. He started ceramics from his third year in college due to the school’s new major: the sculpture department’s ceramic materials. He interest in ceramics was not due of the China’s ceramic traditions. He carefully selected this major because it allowed his expressions of creativity in his art. He settled on using the mediums of porcelain and stainless steel because of their distinct contrast. He has said that the world is filled with contrast and thus porcelain and steel could co-exist just like any contrasts in life or culture. We can see that FENG’s generation has a different way of viewing the world than the past generation. They have had different experiences in growing up and thus a different way of viewing the world. They are more open to other’s point of view points, have a broader range of options, and can get along better with other people. The made an intrinsically change in the ceramics department, big enough to entangle together the definitions of ceramics, ceramic art, and nonfunctional art.

FENG Shu’s Ceramic Art
FENG Shu displayed his “Insect” series in his graduation show.  He selected porcelain and stainless steel as the basic materials of his art work and combined them together skillfully. In the last three years, he has continuously made great contributions in this field and his current show, with 20 new art pieces, indicates his maturity in his “Insect” series. FENG’s “Insect” is forever beautiful and FENG says, “my main goal is to be on the search for beauty”. His process of creating a realistic insect body becomes the key part of his work and also took the greatest effort. The designing of the floral pattern on the insect’s body is the soul of his work. Drawing the colorful patterns is FENG’s strong suit. In order to achieve the same colors from the ceramic glaze, he went to Jingdezhen 6 times to make test sheets. Now he can proudly claim that his success rate of matching his glaze color has exceed 95%. He also claimed that he might be the only one who knows how to weld porcelain with the stainless steel using Argon-Nitrogen techniques. I noticed that the stainless steel legs of his works were exaggerated. He agreed and told me that it was a necessary part of his work.

He told me that he even used mirrors as the base plates to emphasize the steel portion. We both agree that a certain exaggeration or distortion was important to give the pieces a contemporary feeling. FENG’s work is a good example of  modern art concepts such as minimalism. FENG’s insect body is simplified greatly. In general, his works comprises of only a simple main body or two which are both elegant and awe-inspiring. The floral pattern seems complicated at first but it integrates into the piece as one, when you look at them as a whole. Such transformation of a complicated surface into a simplified form is also a modern concept. All his stainless steel legs are simple stick-forms joined at different sections. It is his artistic arrangement of the legs that gives the whole art work a contemporary feel, It is there that you see FENG’s talent. FENG never includes unnecessarily complications. His worm is a good example, The segments of the worm are repeated with different variations, yet it is still simple. Even with the decorations, as a whole, it remains simple. The complexity remains in the details. FENG never considered whether he was making a ceramic art work or not, but it is definitely a contemporary work. It is a piece of art that he likes and fits with his cultural environment. He tried to create a sense of artistry. Feng’s approach to creating his works is influenced by the environment he grew up in. Its goal is to be thoroughly inclusive of all ideas. 

A Discussion of Contemporary Ceramic Art’s Problems
FENG Shu and his generation may provide the key to solving the problems I discussed in the beginning. Ceramic artists need to open themselves up to new possibilities, and not to narrow their horizons. They need to try to be contemporary artists, and not limit themselves to the traditional ceramic circles. It is important to understand the artistic attitude of being an open minded artist is a worthy goal. FENG Shu’s generation is a lucky one. They understand this concept. For older generations, it requires a free-thought environment to accomplish. Some people like to say that China is the factory of the world. I feel that China has the ability to provide artists an environment conducive to their artistic abilities. It is an environment that accepts a broad range of differing viewpoints and still stays in harmony with one another. Only in such environment, a ceramic artist with a narrow scope can learn and grow to become a contemporary artist. The results may solve the challenges that the contemporary ceramic artist faces.

Biography

1981:  Born in Beijing
2005:  Graduated from Central Academy of Fine Arts, Sculpture Dept Beijing
2006:  Enrolled in China Academy of Art Sculpture Dept.

Selected Exhibition:

2006: Feng Shu Solo Show at F2 Gallery - Exhibition Period: Dec 2006-Jan 2006
2006: "Fantasy" traveling exhibition in Beijing & Milan Marella Gallery   Beijing Milan
2006: China International Gallery Exhibition   Beijing
2006: Shanghai Biennial outside Exhibition   Contrast Window Gallery   Shanghai
2006: China Ceramics Art Invitational Exhibition    China Gallery   Beijing
2005: "New Interpretation of Ceramics "--works from the Academic Invitational Exhibition Of Contemporary Chinese Young Ceramists    Guangzhou Gallery   Guangzhou
2005: A hundred years' Sculpture Exhibition of Shanghai China   Shanghai
2004: The 54th Fanza International Ceramics Exhibition   Italy 

Collections:
2006; art works “ Post-Insect Time”   International Museum Of China
2005: art works " Post-Insect Time"   Guangzhou Art Gallery
2004: art works "Post-Insect Time"    International Ceramics Museum Fanza Italy