Inject Life into Clay

---the Ceramic Art of Wenzhi Zhang    

                                                   
As being world--famous for her ceramics, the exquisite traditional ceramics of China have already been the treasures of collections in the great museums around the world.However, the modern ceramic art has only twenty years of history in China. It is especially noteworthy that a group of young ceramic artists have been quite active in their creations since the 1990s and received more and more attention in the art community. Wenzhi Zhang is one of these artists.
Wenzhi Zhang began her career as a ceramic artist in 1992 when she was a postgraduate student in Guangzhou Art Academy. During her stay in the academy, she concentrated her efforts on researching the properties of ceramic materials and the examples for references in the art community while making experiments with clay in her artistic creations. As a result, she succeeded in compiling a detailed book, "Art of Modern Materials," discussing the languages of materials in a systematic way.
Clay is probably the oldest of all the materials suitable for artistic creations. Dating back to the New Stone Age of the primitive society, our ancestors already began to fire beautifully painted pottery. The vessels for cooking food and containing water have embodied artistic charms even today. The natural and everlasting affinity between clay and man impels Zhang to choose clay as her best artistic media. The material elements clay, water and fire, upon which our life depends, produced miraculous charms in ceramic art. Ceramic artists have an incomparably tender and gratifying feeling in their contacts with clay.
Wenzhi Zhang finished her first group of ceramic work in quite a short period of time and had a great success in holding her first ceramic art exhibition. Her series ”Porcupine Theory Series’’ fully demonstrated a broad space for the artist’s imagination and her capability to treat clay. Following the exhibition, she increasingly displayed her extraordinary energy in artistic creations, one series after another and one exhibition after another. Chinese Female Painters Invitational Exhibition(1995, Beijing), Wenzhi Zhang Ceramic Art Exhibition(1996, the United States), China Contemporary Ceramic Art Touring Exhibition (1996, Europe), the First National Contemporary Ceramic Art Exhibition of China (1997, Shanghai), Century Female Art Fair (1998, Beijing) and more. It is praiseworthy that she was awarded the top prize (silver award; gold award was vacant) for her large group work of five pieces in the First National Contemporary Ceramic Art Exhibition of China. For these years, her works have received more and more attention due to her presence in these exhibitions and she has also become a renowned figure in the ceramic art community.
Wenzhi Zhang’s ceramic works have both the general characteristics of contemporary ceramic art and distinctive individual characteristics. Quite different from the traditional ceramics, the modern ceramic art has not only given up the standard and delicate appearances of the traditional ceramics, it has also broken away from its functionality.In the ceramic works of Wenzhi Zhang, it is not so difficult for us to comprehend the features in such a process as from the idea of making functional vessels up to the realm of pure art which gives full expression of the characteristics of materials. However, Zhang has not pursued to create pure forms in the meaning of pure art in her artistic creations.In contrast, she has made more efforts to seek the value of life and an expression of her experiences, she regards Most of her work is a symbol on life and she has injected her sincere solicitude for her experiences of survival into such symbols of life. As a matter of fact, her "Porcupine Theory Series", "Wine Community Series" and other works relative with the environmental problems are the very reflections of life and her ways of expressing her aspirations.
Wenzhi Zhang is an energetic and creative artist. Tirelessly, she has created quite a number of works, some of which are amazingly large. These works, such as "Soul of Forest", "Life" and others, are usually above two meters. The way of integrating a group of works has also brought out an atmosphere of grandeur which is rare in ceramic works. With such visual shocks, it is quite difficult for the viewers to believe. However, the dynamics in Zhang’s works are not a symbol of masculinity. Such dynamics are of a female's vision. Looking closely, it is not very hard to find some formal characteristics of vessels in their appearances although many of her works are hand-built by this frail lady. Even the male artists are unable to keep up with her, her spirit and energy embodied in her straightforward and dignified artistic style have no functionality. This is a transformation and extension based on the vessels as a mother tongue in order to give more expressions of the characteristics of life. For example, the works in "Wine Community Series" are developed from the basic forms of "bottles" and have been provided a form of life in her rich imaginations. It is more important that such great works as "Soul of Forest" have conceptions. In fact, the maternal body is precisely a vessel being pregnant with new life. If we appreciate Zhang’s works from such an angle, then, it's regarded as an declare her works as a symbol of male regarded as an oversimplified way to declare her works as a symbol of male characteristics.
In addition to the above mentioned formal characteristics. Wenzhi Zhang has shown her extraordinary artistic skills in processing the surfaces. By sculpting, molding, pressing, pinching, engraving or painting, Wenzhi Zhang has tried her efforts to maximize the material characteristics of clay in artistic creations, and then enrich the expressiveness of ceramic works by controlling the glazes and the firing temperature in order to reach her ideal realm.    
In her mind, art is neither an embellishment nor a vocation. Art is a lifestyle for her. Her life will never separate with art. She has not only injected her life into every piece of work, but also injected her life into the clay that she loves so deeply. The splendor of her life resides in the works that she makes in her hands. She is a physical laborer and a blue collar. The only difference is that she works not only with hands and strength, but also with mind and wisdom.