David Kaye presented my first solo exhibition in Toronto fromApril 2-26, 2015. The works came from and out of my experience of working in Jingdezhen, China the Pottery Workshop in the spring of 2013.
I work in two different palettes or “ideascapes”: tonal and primal. The tonal draws on the variegated hues of raw clay bodies, while the primal is based on the colour-wheel’s saturated pigments. My shapes also draw on two opposing ideas: linear curves and basic solid three-dimensional forms; bands of thrown and altered clay, coaxed into kinetic rhythm versus foundational geometry.
China Bound is a series of work that reflects the duality of China that I experienced during my artist residency in Jingdezhen, 2013. Much of the country seems intent on aspiring to hyper-capitalism, while at the same time the soul of the country - its tradition - refuses to be quashed. In this series I try to capture what I believe to be at the core of this duality. Placing the forms in asymmetry at the centre of the altered vessels speaks to the caveats placed on freedom and innovation, where tradition is encircled and bursting with new energy.
Mimesis While in Denmark at Guldagergaard Centre for Ceramic Research in the fall of 2014, I started to make my first complex moulds. My objective was to reframe both the individual and society through abstract portraiture, using the vocabulary I developed in China. I aim to challenge us to examine the varied facets of our lives within the context of social responsibility.
Reaching is a technical and intentional extension of a “mistake” that occurred in Denmark. The series of work, though playful, comments on western society’s craving for constant momentum - always striving for something more.
Chi is a series of work that has its genesis in my own 18-year transformative journey through the practice of tai chi chuan and chi qong. I designed the original forms upon which the moulds of the yin yang and bagua base were made and worked with the craftsmen in Jingdezhen China who fashioned the pieces. Chi is the energy, the life force in each of us.
Essence is the beginning of new work where I move from the macro to the micro, focusing on “soul sketches” of an individual, finding the movement and spectrum of their inner voice.
