Artists show gold-themed contemporary ceramics

Prosperity, 2019, Caroline Cheng, Porcelain on fabric

Gold Glamorous Ceramics

Curator Caroline Cheng spent ten months bringing together twenty-seven distinguished ceramic artists for the show titled All That’s Gold Does Glitter, an exhibition of Glamorous Ceramics.

Caroline Cheng, Exhibition Curator

With Cheng’s dedication and vision, she has become instrumental in the nurturing of young artists, encouraging dialogue and cultural exchanges.

Osprey, 2018, Porcelain, Jason Walker

She has brought together ceramicists from all over the world for a showing of gold-themed works.

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There is no better venue than the sixteenth century High Renaissance inspired Venetian Macao complex for this glittering display.

Crespina #3, 2017, Porcelain, Antonella Climatti

Marble columns and vaulted fresco ceilings encapsulate an eclectic collection of ceramic art that easily draws visitors.

Jingdezhen pottery and porcelain

The point of connection for all these international artists is the southern Chinese city of Jingdezhen.

Tea Set, 2018, Stoneware, Porcelain, Po Ching Fang

Since the sixth century Jingdezhen has been known for pottery and porcelain.

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It is in this city that the technology for creating blue and white porcelain was developed.

Bloom-3, 2019, Stoneware, Porcelain, Shin Yu Wang

It also has the best clay, largest kilns and most adept ceramics artisans to assist even the most prolific artists.

Contemporary ceramics

The intent of this show is to expose visitors to high end contemporary ceramics by world-renown artists.

Left: Bottle, Right: Vase, 2019, Colored porcelain, Peter Pincus

Each artist took inspiration from different creative sources and submitted select pieces that suited the exhibition’s theme of All That’s Gold Does Glitter.

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Caroline Cheng has been an ambassador for Jingdezhen to the world, attracting the world’s best talent to The Pottery Workshop, where she is currently the executive director.

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She is a prominent ceramic artist and curator.

Gold-coloured porcelain butterflies

Her works have been exhibited around the world and are in private collections and museums.

Prosperity, 2019, Porcelain on fabric, Caroline Cheng

Cheng’s work on display is from her Prosperity series, is the signature feature of the exhibition.

Thousands unique and different in harmony

It consists of intricately handmade gold-coloured porcelain butterflies sewn onto a Chinese – styled dress modelled after those worn in ancient times.

The idea came after living in China and experiencing life in the vast country.

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She noted that from afar, people look at China and see a country with millions of people seemingly looking the same.

However, more closely, the many complexities, personalities and cultures are distinctive yet melded into one large pot.

Prosperity, 2019, (detail), Porcelain on fabric, Caroline Cheng

The many butterflies – all unique, different and residing in harmony on one dress – allude to that.

Porcelain butterflies sewn onto dress

The butterflies were inspired by her first visit to Jingdezhen. She saw artisans making these porcelain creatures, and she enlisted their help to make thousands of the butterflies to sew onto the dresses.

Fossil Egg No. 1 (background) and No. 2 (Foreground), 2015, Porcelain, Makoto Komatsui

Ceramic artist Makoto Komatsu considered the names of today’s well-known brands and noted these will not last 100 or 200 years.

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So, to preserve those names for eternity, Komatsu embossed them onto porcelain eggs, and named them Fossil Egg No.1 and No. 2, making them into modern artefacts and therefore giving them a lasting permanence.

The Steadiness of Transformation, 2019, Stoneware, Porcelain, Ryan Mitchell

For Vinod Kumar Daroz, he elevated the ordinary to high art.

Samudra Manthan-I, 2019, Porcelain, Stoneware, Vinod Kumar Daroz

He transformed a utilitarian stone grinder, a common Indian object that is usually rough unfinished and hewn from stone without any aesthetic consideration into a polished and refined work of art that is fit for a god to grind seeds into diamonds.

Samudra Manthan-II, 2019, Porcelain, Stoneware, Vinod Kumar Daroz

The floral motifs in the work signal coming toward fertility, abundance, and the creation of beautiful things.

In totality, the clay, grinder and floral motifs are a symbol of creation.

Japanese artist En Iwamura sees ceramics as an artform that can cross barriers of language, culture, people and countries.

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To do this, he draws on his Japanese cultural influences including philosophy, Buddhism, cultural icons, and traditional ceramic styles.

Ceramic artform

Iwamura’s contribution to this show is a triptych inspired by the Japanese proverb of the three wise monkeys.

Doused in a gold glaze, they are each a kitsch shiny golden object playfully questioning societies infatuation with luxury items.

Golden Wisdom series, En Iwamura

The Hershey Kiss shapes are cartoony interpretations of sitting Buddha statues; the lines on the faces have the appearance of wraps used for Egyptian mummies but are inspired by the ancient Japanese Jōmon pottery and by the lines of Zen rock gardens.

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These lines are an important part of Iwamura’s personal style, because to him they convey legacy. Iwamura reminded that ceramics is an important information technology.

In the distant future, these pieces may become real artefacts that archaeologists will excavate from the ground. In a thousand years, the gold will have faded but they will communicate something about this culture.

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He said, “I wanted to make a ceramic object as future artefact, so I make the work related to the cultural influences where I live now to communicate to future people.”

Ceramics become real artefacts

Thai born; Melbourne based artist Vipoo Srivilasa is a inspired by flowers. For him gold is a symbol of winning.

Plantimals, 2018, Vipoo Srivilasa

Olympic athletes receive gold medals and flowers, so Vipoo created ceramic deities covered in gold and the flowers of either lotus, chrysanthemum, peony or plum plants.

For this show, Vipoo wanted to create works that have a sense of affluence, material wealth and extravagance. He believes they will be good luck charms for their new owners.

Wreathe, 2018, Stoneware, Eliza Au

Garth Johnson’s works celebrate the history of ceramic objects and their ability to convey status.

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He juxtaposes common vessel forms like plastic containers and soap bottles with gold or silver handles taken from fine silver coffee pots and teapots.

Works by Garth Johnson

Johnson’s hourglass shaped creation Shoulou/Money Tree 2019 is a good example. The inspiration was a hygiene product purchased at a Walmart in Jingdezhen and cast in porcelain.

Shoulou / Money Tree, 2019, Garth Johnson

After melding it with an ornate gold handle and spout he created a valuable work of art from a common object few others would have seen of value.

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Trudy Golley uses light to attract the viewer, to provide an unexpected sense of discovery and to address notions of conceptual and intellectual illumination.

Double Bee Vase, 2018, Trudy Golley

Golley’s work explores the material and immaterial through the creation of a “drawing” in light and shadow.

Prosperity, (back view), 2019, Porcelain on Fabric, Caroline Cheng

All That’s Gold Does Glitter, an exhibition of Glamorous Ceramics is the Sands Hotel’s contribution to the biennale “Art Macao”, a mega international arts and cultural event in which visual art works are presented at various exhibition venues around Macau.

Text Martin Wray / Photos Cammy Yiu

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