WINDS OF CHANGE

The 70s’ and 80s’ was a period in Taiwan where ceramic artists whom studied abroad returned home, bringing high experimental ceramic art into the Taiwanese ceramic field. Taiwan has been using clay as a sculptural material for over forty years, therefore to pursue technical breakthroughs in ceramic practice is not an issue anymore. The difficulty that all practitioners needs to confront today is how to create a new perspective with clay, especially when clay requires a vast cultivation of knowledge and techniques. Moreover, under the globalization trend, young artists and almost all non-Western countries will need to face the changes of their own culture and search for the balance between innovation and tradition. It is significant that one can stand firm on their cultural foundation and evolve globally.

This exhibition is a course of action that is developed from the perishment of craft material. The texture of the artworks breaks away from the academic and traditional arts, and mostly focuses on the transformation of personal concepts or the discussion of Taiwan’s current events. As fine craftsmanship no longer is essential to completing a piece of artwork, artists can release themselves from pursuing the technical perfection of craft. This freedom becomes a symbol that frees ceramic sculpture from the field of traditional craft, which is a necessary liberation process. This status of discontinuity is not a gesture to exclude, but to employ traditional techniques that is embedded within the making process as a behavioral language which artists can freely use. As a result, traditional craft culture becomes a significant asset for ceramic sculpture, allowing this field to expand on a larger cultural foundation and unleash its possibilities to the extent.

The development of Taiwanese art have continuously encountered numerous impacts from Western art, such as influences of form, concept, medium, theory and ideological trends; these aspects of impact are followed by a process of digestion that awaits new creations to take place. The new generation of Taiwanese artist not only disgusts the systematic standards, neither do they intend to become the canon in the art field. These artists’ persistence along with their freedom of expression, pushes the boundaries of art to the maximum. Although The Wind of Change cannot represent all of the young practitioners in Taiwan, yet this rebellious behavior is held towards the general art environment.