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Ceramics & Glass (MA)

Xinwen Zhang

Xinwen Zhang was born and raised in China. She gained her BA in oil painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China in 2014 and her MA in Ceramics from the Royal College of Art in 2020. Xinwen now lives and works in London, and exhibits her work in the UK and China. 

Contact

https://www.instagram.com/xinwen_zhang_studio/

Degree Details

School of Arts & Humanities

Ceramics & Glass (MA)

My work relates to Chinese calligraphy and Chinese ink painting. The brushstroke motifs of Japanese calligraphy (Ensō) and the splash-ink style of Chinese painting have given me a lot of inspiration and made me realize the potential of the brushstroke movement. Enso is a painting method that focuses on how to execute the brush stroke circle through a movement of the body. This method relates to Japanese Zen philosophy, which is characterized by a minimalism born from Japanese aesthetics. The incomplete circle symbolises movement and development. When the circle is closed, it represents perfection, akin to Plato's perfect form. 

My major at BA level was oil painting. I found that Chinese ink painting expresses “space” in a different way to Western painting. Here, poetic expression is an understanding of space in Chinese ink painting, mainly reflected through different ways of moving brushes. My work examines how to combine traditional Chinese painting methods and the philosophy of Japanese painting within the real 3D space and turn my brushstroke into a stereoscopic image. It leads the viewer’s eyes to move through different spaces with complex shapes. My work aims to change the viewing mode of the audience, so they can experience movement in a motionless object. 

Hidden & Emerging - close up — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

Hidden & Emerging — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

Hidden & Emerging — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

Hidden & Emerging - detail — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

Hidden & Emerging — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

Hidden & Emerging - close up — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

Retaining Ensō brushstrokes, I use blue and white to reference the ink in traditional Chinese landscape painting. The brush drives the whole body to move, following the form. This work has a complex internal structure, which is revealed through apertures. Especially when you look inwards from the open circle on the side, you can see the clear internal complex structure and the overlap between the brushstrokes. When light comes in from the outside, the formed shadow adds a hierarchical spatial relationship to the internal structure.

Medium:

Porcelain

Size:

37.5x30.8x21.5cm
blue and whitebrushstrokecalligraphyEnsō philosophyGestureinfinite loopinner spaceMovementporcelain

PEEP I - close up — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

PEEP I — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

PEEP I — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

PEEP - detail — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

I chose a closed form in this work, so that viewers pay more attention to the interior. In this work, the brushstrokes extend from the outside to the inside, and finally gather into the circle of the inner space. If light shines on the work, the shadows will echo the internal structure and brush strokes. I think different hues of blue and white can show a different sense of time.I use blue and white to highlight the inside structure.

Medium:

Porcelain

Size:

18.3x21.2x14.5cm

PEEP II - close up — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

PEEP II — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

PEEP II - detail — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

PEEP II — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

In this work, I tried different glazes to express the occasional fluidity of brush strokes. I used a transparent blue glaze to replace the blue and white, which shows the different texture of the brush strokes. The other two colours are derived from Chinese Tang Sancai ceramics that are mainly glazed in yellow, green, and white. I combine these traditional colours with contemporary ceramic form.

In terms of form, I did not choose an overly complicated internal structure. I emptied the internal space so that the flowing glaze can flow naturally in the kiln, and then accumulate on the bottom, forming a rich color in the inside space. Viewers can observe the time passing through temperature and time changes in the kiln.

Medium:

porcelain,underglaze

Size:

21.2x27.5x13.9cm

Movement of Line — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

Movement of Line - close up — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

Movement of Line - detail — Handbuild, porcelain, dimension, oxide Please contact for price

When I began to develop this body of work, I used mainly line drawing. This is a common painting method in Chinese ink painting, used to outline objects. Here, line is the medium that I used to highlight the internal external. It is like a clue that can guide people's eyes to explore the relationship between the inner world and the outer world.

Due to the complexity of structure inside, it takes patience to make and paint my objects. It is difficult to draw such delicate lines. The intertwined shapes are derived from bubbles of water with a sense of fluidity and chance, using flowing lines and flowing water to express movement.

Medium:

Porcelain

Size:

26x27.5x25.4cm

Calligraphy of movement - close up — Ink, Chinese rice paper, dimension

Calligraphy of movement - close up — Ink, Chinese rice paper, dimension I designed these paintings during lock down, looking potential for these design plates, please contact if you are interested in.

Calligraphy of movement - detail — Ink, Chinese rice paper, dimension

Calligraphy of movement — Ink, Chinese rice paper, dimension

Iterative ink painting helped me that find the relationship between brush, paper, body, and space during lock down. I discovered the potential of different brushstrokes and explored various effects through drawing on large-sized rice paper. Continuous practice is needed in order to balance control and unpredictability. This gave me an opportunity to practice how I could paint brushstroke within two-dimensional pace.

Medium:

Ink, watercolour, Chinese rice paper,tissue paper

Spacial series - close up — Ink, tissue paper, dimension

Spacial series - detail — Ink, tissue paper, dimension

Spacial series — Ink, tissue paper, dimension

During the college closure, I found another material to express the space of the brushstrokes. I used the transparent quality of tissue paper to superimpose brush strokes on different papers, thus forming a natural front-to-back spatial relationship.

I wanted to show that brushstrokes convey a sense of time. I used ink to draw brushstrokes on tissue paper, then covered it with a second piece of tissue paper and a third, until the ink on the first piece of tissue paper was completely dry. In this way, each piece of paper will leave different traces of ink. With the passing of time and by repeatedly overlaying pieces of tissue paper, a sense of space is achieved.

Medium:

Ink, tissue paper
This is my portfolio that show more details about my concept, work in process and related content.
23 July 2020
12:30 (GMT + 0)
Zoom

From a Distance: The importance of a cultural experience and exchange of art education

Discussion on cultural awareness, individual practices and future plans.
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