Potter Zhu Lekeng

Character Card.

Zhu Lekeng is a professor and doctoral supervisor, former Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Arts and Crafts, a master of Chinese ceramic art, a member of the 11th, 12th and 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Vice President of the Chinese Cultural Industry Association, and an expert with special contribution allowance from the State Council. He has participated in many contemporary ceramic art exhibitions at home and abroad, and has won more than forty awards for his works. He has held solo pottery exhibitions in China, Singapore, Korea, the United States, France and Germany. Over the years, he has worked hard to promote the creation of contemporary pottery with Chinese philosophical connotations, especially in the creation of contemporary environmental pottery, with many large-scale pottery works placed in important buildings and public spaces in cities such as Seoul and Jeju Island in South Korea, and Shanghai, Tianjin and Jiujiang in China, becoming one of the important humanistic landscapes of the cities. Over the years, he has also devoted himself to promoting the international exchange of Chinese contemporary pottery, having been the curator and organiser of the first East Asian Pottery Exhibition, and has been the organiser, curator and jury member of many international pottery exhibitions in porcelain-producing regions such as Jingdezhen and Foshan. He has also been invited to lecture at Harvard University, Alfred University, University of Kentucky, Laval University, Tokyo University of the Arts, Hongik University and other important universities in many countries. He has also actively participated in international academic dialogues and has participated in many cultural exchange events such as the China-Europe Cultural Forum, the China-US Cultural Forum and the China-Korea Cultural Forum organised by the Ministry of Culture, the European Union Cultural Organisation, the American Humanities Foundation and the Korean Cultural Centre, and has presented papers at these forums, expanding the influence of Chinese contemporary art and ceramic art in the international art scene. His series of works are collected by many art galleries and museums at home and abroad.

Q= Freelance Writer Yu Lingna
A= Potter Zhu Lekeng

Q: What do you think of the "Spirit of Porcelain" 2021 Jingdezhen International Ceramic Art Biennale, co-organised by Jingdezhen University of Ceramics and the Jingdezhen Municipal Government?

A: It is important to look at the world in order to attract the world's attention. The Biennale is a very forward-looking event. With the leadership of the University and the government, it has always maintained an open and tolerant attitude, attracting domestic and international ceramic artists to exhibit, bringing new ideas and promoting exchanges, which will help the development of ceramic art in Jingdezhen and enhance the soft power of the city.
Culture is the common wealth of mankind, and Jingdezhen needs to absorb foreign cultures, just as red and green colours and Yuan Qing Hua are also foreign cultures that we need to absorb today. This is why young people should be encouraged to participate, and through the Biennale as a platform for high-level artistic exchange, learn from each other, learn from each other and promote each other, highlighting the international, academic and contemporary nature, which is the hope for the future of ceramic art in Jingdezhen.

Zhu Lekong｜Light of Life 17x6m Ceramic installation mural at Mai Grain Concert Hall, Seoul, Korea 2005

Zhu Lekong｜Light of Life 17x6m Ceramic installation mural at Mai Grain Concert Hall, Seoul, Korea 2005

Q: You were born in Jingdezhen and your father Zhu Ming was a famous local ceramic artist, but your art has long since gone contemporary and international, what is it like to look back at Jingdezhen after travelling thousands of mountains?
 

A: What kind of city Jingdezhen really is we must understand it. I think that Jingdezhen is a city that has continued to develop by the force of the market economy. For thousands of years, it has been the market economy that has been driving the development of local ceramics, and as market demand has increased and standards have changed and improved, Jingdezhen has been able to progress in ceramic production. This, coupled with the establishment of official kilns in the Ming and Qing dynasties, enriched the variety of ceramics crafted in Jingdezhen and drove the development of the industry. Stimulated by both the royal aesthetic and the market economy, new creations were constantly made in Jingdezhen. Shadow blue porcelain from the Song dynasty, blue and white from the Yuan and Ming dynasties, antique and pastel colours from the Qing dynasty, each era had its own innovations originating from a particular period of history, and the spirit of Jingdezhen is one of constant innovation. Today's era also requires new creations, workshops and enterprises engaged in production to meet the needs of people's daily lives and provide better product design for the market, so that ceramics can continue to enter new lives. On the other hand is the exploration of ideas. After the reform and opening up, the doors of the country were opened wide and international exchanges were frequent, bringing many new artistic ideas. Universities should be the birthplace of new trends, and should study new ideas and train new artists, so that thoughtful and creative young people can stand out. It is also important for practitioners to sink their teeth into exploring research practices and enhancing their craft and design abilities.

Zhu Lekeng｜Lotus - Harmony - Rhyme Macau Wing Lee Art Museum "Mirror of Life - Zhu Lekeng Contemporary Ceramic Art Exhibition" 2021

Zhu Lekeng｜Lotus - Harmony - Rhyme (partial) Wynn Macau " Mirror of Life - Zhu Lekeng Contemporary Ceramic Art Exhibition" 2021

Q: As a teenager, you studied antique colours at the Art Porcelain Factory and later became the first master's student at Jingdezhen Ceramic University. Your works focus on highlighting traditional culture, ethnicity and contemporaneity, as well as ceramic craftsmanship, how do you explore new artistic paths that are in tune with the times, born out of tradition?

A: I was born into a family of ceramic artists in Jingdezhen, and influenced by my father, I had the opportunity to enter the Jingdezhen Art Porcelain Factory, which is the most concentrated place for the best old artists in Jingdezhen. Later, I was fortunate enough to attend the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts and Jingdezhen Ceramic University to improve my art theory and artistic expression. In the early days, I was engaged in the creation and design of ceramic paintings and ceramic vessels, and later I began to focus on the creation and research of environmental pottery. From the folk to the academy, not only was I not bound by tradition, I also benefited from it. Those who are confined to tradition are mostly those who have not delved into it and are rooted deep enough to draw the real nutrients. In addition, my vision is not limited to the realm of ceramic art, which is part of traditional Chinese culture and comes from it, such as the expression of lines. "It is also important to study this knowledge thoroughly. It is important to base oneself on traditional Chinese culture, to trace the origins of Chinese painting, to move forward, to look back, to observe life, and to accept and learn modern artistic concepts in order to have more room for creativity.

Zhu Lekeng｜Chinese Cow 114x65x135cm "Life Mirror - Zhu Lekeng Contemporary Ceramic Art Exhibition", Wynn Macau 2021

Through these teaching materials, I want to explore how to learn and pass on China's excellent local culture, use this excellent heritage to develop my future in ceramic art, and then explore the expression of localisation in contemporary times. The sorting and summarising of these traditions is an extremely important sustenance for ceramic practitioners and art creators.
From the traditional to the contemporary, it is necessary to have the language symbols of the era, culture is common to all human beings, in the midst of communication, constantly learning the concepts of modern pottery, this era requires us to create new ceramic styles that can represent this era. The artist's mind is not solidified, it is boundless, groping in the dark, constantly exploring, pushing open a window, observing, thinking, synthesising, exploring the diversity of artistic expression and forming a unique way of expression.
Especially since the 1990s, when modern pottery entered China, new artistic concepts were conveyed through the form of modern pottery, bringing us an experimental approach. Artists dialogue with clay, reacquaint themselves with the material and focus on the language of earth and fire in ceramics itself. I feel that there should be a richer language of ceramics to showcase art in architectural spaces, and thus begin to investigate the diversity of materials, glazes, ceramic forms and contemporary pottery clay.

Zhu Lekong｜The Imagination of Time and Space Mai Grain Concert Hall, Seoul, Korea Ceramic Installation Mural 2005

Q: You have continued to break the single practical and decorative nature of traditional ceramics and have pioneered the use of ceramic works all over the space. Tell us about your attempts to break through the ceramic shelf art form and transform traditional Chinese art into something contemporary.

A: Ceramics is not only for shelf decoration, it can also be expanded to many fields, and I have been exploring the relationship between ceramics and architectural and environmental spaces for many years. 2002, I was invited to lead the design of Korea's Mai Grain Concert Hall, and worked with Professor Chun Jin Yong, a renowned Korean sound expert, to decorate the interior walls of the concert hall with ceramics, becoming part of the environmental space of the concert hall, not only considering the visual presentation of the art, but also making it the best sound. making it the best sound. Jingdezhen ceramics have been known for their 'sound like a chime' since ancient times, and I designed them as abstract, undulating blocks of high-temperature colour glaze, which would have the best acoustic effect, but also make the concert hall warm and gorgeous. Through repeated trials, Professor Jeon Jin-lung and I found the best solution for sound transmission. While a typical concert hall has an aftertone of only 1.2-1.5 seconds, the Grain of Wheat Concert Hall achieves 1.7 seconds, making it the first concert hall in the world to be decorated with a high-temperature material.
Four years, over one hundred tonnes of porcelain clay and one thousand square metres of design have made this work 'An Imagination of Time and Space', and my first attempt to expand the space with ceramic materials.

Zhu Lekeng｜Red and green ceramic mural at Haidutun underground station, Beijing metro line 8 1840x320cm 2018

I have since integrated ceramic art with the spatial environment and architecture many times. The red and green ceramic mural 'Ten Thousand Horses Running' in the Beijing underground station extends the red and green decorations that used to be painted on bowls and plates to the underground space, fitting the artistic style of Song Dynasty ceramics, and is made of 12 large porcelain plates of 3 metres high, overcoming the limitations of ceramic craftsmanship and injecting a positive spirit of the times, bringing traditional Chinese art back to people's The exhibition is a great success. The 60-metre-long ceramic installation mural at Shanghai Pudong Airport's Terminal 2, Huifeng Heifeng, is a poetic symbol of hurried travellers in abstract ceramics, with a visual effect of moving steps as the lift descends, expressing the attitude of the Chinese nation as a nation of etiquette at a transport hub like the airport. Each piece of work is a dream of mine, I will distill my thoughts on the times and my feelings about life into a spiritual core and shape it into an artistic form, spiritual culture lasts longer than the physical body, the work is a philosophical dialogue with the public in order to resonate with the heart.

Zhu Lekong｜Blooming of Life 29x9.5m Kensington Hotel, Jeju Island, Korea Ceramic installation mural 2014

Zhu Lekong｜Mirror of Tianshui 16x4.5m Kensington Hotel, Jeju Island, Korea Ceramic installation mural 2014

Q: The flowers in "The Blossoming of Life" and the clouds in "The Realm of Heaven and Earth" give people the impression that your works are not only pottery, but also a contemporary field of dialogue with space and people.

A: Exploring the spirit of the times and echoing it with my work. When combining ceramic art with space, I often think about two questions: Firstly, ceramic is a very old material, and human beings have never stopped exploring it, how can I break through and innovate? Secondly, the beauty of art and the way of nature has always been moving forward, so how can the things I make in this space today be in dialogue with contemporary people and space?It is important to link ceramics with space and human activities in the same field, so that the audience can see, touch and feel. I am using ceramics to shape cultural and urban symbols, to reveal the essence of things, and space is also an externalisation of the artist's personality. In the future, ceramic materials should enter the environment and become the pottery environment, with new spatial expressions.

Zhu Lekeng｜Chinese Cow - Nirvana Expanding Theatre - The First Public Art Exhibition in Nanhai High Temperature Ceramic Sculpture 2019

Zhu Lekeng｜Shan Shui ∙ Mirror Image 40x175cm (average) High temperature ceramic sculpture 2015

Q: In July 2021, you held the "Mirror of Life - Zhu Lekeng Contemporary Ceramic Art Exhibition" at the Wynn Macau Art Museum, and the concept of "ceramic art space" was officially introduced. How do you explain the concept of "pottery space" and your works "Box of Life" and "Mirror of Lotus"?

A: "Pottery Space" is an independent art work, I created this space with ceramics, it breaks the constraints of architecture and environment, through design and construction, making the space the main body of the art form, in which the artistic and cultural expression of ceramic materials is carried out.
The most irresistible force in nature is the power of life, the power of growth, and the tension of the bamboo shoot breaking through the earth becomes the most important form of life, hence the theme of 'life'.
The work is 4 metres high, covers an area of 50 square metres and weighs 15 tonnes. As the largest exhibition-ready work of art in the history of ceramics to date, it demonstrates to the public the technical possibilities of the 'ceramic space' art form.
Zhu Lekeng｜The Box of Life "Mirror of Life - Zhu Lekeng Contemporary Ceramics" at Wynn Macau 2021

Another ceramic space work on display, Mirror of the Lotus, creates an artistic space through the artistic imagination generated by pottery. In this space, ceramics are no longer decorations on the walls, but people can talk to them in it, and many local performances even take place in the space of the work, with the ceramic work becoming the backdrop for improvised performances, and this interaction between people and objects forms the complete expression of this space art.
Both the ceramic space and the artwork have a spiritual connotation, so this exhibition is also a new leap forward in my ceramic creation.

Zhu Lekeng｜Mirror of the Lotus (partial) "Mirror of Life - Zhu Lekeng Contemporary Ceramic Art Exhibition", Wynn Macau 2021

Zhu Lekeng｜Mirror of the Lotus (partial) "Mirror of Life - Zhu Lekeng Contemporary Ceramic Art Exhibition", Wynn Macau 2021

(Photos of individuals with "Mirror of the Lotus" posted by visitors to the exhibition on public social networking platforms)

Article source: School of Ceramic Arts, Jingdezhen University of Ceramics