In a sense, it is hopeless for potters to make pots anymore -- and this is not just true for pottery, it is true for all traditional art media. Painters must do more than just paint; sculptors cannot just sculpt, at least in the classical sense; and even photographers must do more than just take pictures. All through the arts, artists are finding that they have to redefine their media in order to keep them relevant. Maybe that's why local potter Shih Guang-sheng (施光昇) is using his art to produce a form little-suited to ceramics: cages.
Ceramic cages, which for Shih serve as an imaginary dream space to place other objects borne of his imagination, are one of the major motifs in Strolling Leisurely in Shangrila, his new solo exhibition at the Chin Der Jyu Gallery
PHOTO: CHIN DER JYU GALLERY
For the most part, the cages are not the best pieces, even though they're the best example of the good-natured, children's-book surrealism of Shih's work. More interesting are the fireworks, the mountains and the castles, all of which fall within a range of representation somewhere between stylization and abstraction. The fireworks are almost like ceramic baskets that have been turned into sieves, composed of a decorative starburst of skeletal framework and nothing more. The mountains are basically just cones, but at their tops they are subtly capped with the three peaks of the Chinese character for mountain (山), and the peaks are ringed with clouds. The castles too concentrate mostly on the feeling of a magical imaginary place, and though they have no crenellated ramparts, moats or gates, they present the feeling of being thick-walled and imposing. Generally, the work seems like it was fashioned by a man who has not lost his sense of the make-believe. And if the ceramic creations fall short of high art, that's because they were never meant to elucidate or enlighten, they were meant more to be enjoyed and occasionally wondered at.
Strolling Leisurely in Shagrila is on display through Sept. 29. The Chin Der Jyu Gallery is located at 14, Lane 199, Sec. 4, Hsinyi Rd., Taipei (
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