Porcelain is considered by most
potters to be the purest clay body used - it is extremely hard, free from
impurities, purely white in color, and translucent when fired to high
temperatures. The image and art appearing on my porcelain work
is called "Chinese brush painting", named for the type of brush and brush
strokes used. This type of art closely represents the philosophical and
ethical precepts of Chinese society ‑ it strives to be contemplative and
serene in a disciplined process with specific techniques and specific
strokes. The Chinese brush painting technique was also imported to Japan,
where it is called sumí-e, or "Japanese ink drawing".
Though in modern times we see Chinese brush painting
most frequently on rice paper, the earliest examples were in fact found on
pottery, usually porcelain. This school of art derives from early Chinese
idiograms dating back to 2000 BC, and fully developed brushwork images
have been found on pottery and cave walls dating back as far as 200 BC, a
full century before the discovery of paper.
The mode of Chinese brush painting represented on my
work is called xieyi hua. In this artform, the painter does
not represent an object but an idea; s/he does not represent a bird, tree
or flower, but the "chi", or spirit, of the bird, tree or
flower. In the xieyi hua artform, expression is far more
important than rendering a specific form. The goal of the painter is to
depict as much as possible in the fewest strokes possible, lifting the
brush from the page as seldom as possible. Xieyi hua images
are always "completed in one breath", that is, they are painted
immediately, quickly, sequentially, and in one sitting. While the xieyi hua artist may contemplate an image for several hours or
days, preliminary sketches are never made. The Western artist looks
at the subject in order to paint it; the xieyi hua artist
thinks about the subject and then paints the image in only minutes.
The philosophy of Chinese culture is evident in this tradition, as the xieyi hua artist believes that discontinuous painting sessions
and discontinuous brush strokes break the "life force" of the image which
is emerging. It is also interesting to note that Western art is
usually three-dimensional, needing light and shadow to represent the depth
and angle. Chinese xieyi hua art, on the other hand, uses
no light or shadow, does not worry about the third dimension, and puts the
emphasis, instead, on the line (or brushstroke) of the work.
