Yingko potter to showcase ceramic paintings for a chance

The China Post英文中國郵報

Art & community

1992．2．21
By Nancy T. Lu(THE CHINA POST)

Streaks of red flash against azure sky
in this 1990 ceramic painting of coastal sunrise by Wang Hui-min

    Potters and ceramists are plentiful in the town of Yingko not far from the city of Taipei. But Wang Hui-min an artist with decades of creative work behind him, is special.

    When he was still a child, Wang thought of becoming a police officer. He also imagined himself a scientist, a teacher and even president of the land.

    But Wang, an only son, grew up to be a ceramic artist, one whole talent has been showcased in several one-man shows in galleries in Taipei.

    Each time he succeeded in highlighting a different style and technique in producing collector’s items. The shapes, the textures and the colors of his works indicated the richness of his imagination.

    Although Wang was born poor and never received formal training in fine arts, he experienced early in life the aesthetic pleasure of being surrounded by ceramic works of beauty.

    Fresh from his recent exhibition of ceramics at the Taipei County Cultural Center, the 44year-old Wang is ready to showcase ceramic paintings for a change at the Hsinsheng Gallery in Taipei.

    According to Wang, the collection is the result of his five-year labor. During this period, he tried hard not to miss any chance to learn and pick up ideas from master ceramists.

    “My creativity in ceramic painting peaked in 1990,” confessed Wang. His favorite pieces in the collection are from that year.

    “I am constantly drawn by the beauty of Mother Nature,” he said, even waxing poetic in Chinese. “I frequently feel the need to return to her bosom. I have transferred my visions of the beauty of nature to my ceramic paintings. The sunrise, the sunset, the meadow, the wind and rain, the thunder and lightning, the restless sea, the rushing waterfall and the meandering river all wind up in the ceramic paintings I create.”

    His chosen medium is a challenging one. Fired ceramic objects don’t always turn out as an artist envisions them to be. Out of 200 trials, possibly only 20 are acceptable and satisfactory, Wang Said.

    A review of the works, from the different periods in Wang’s creative career will lead to the discovery that the artist has experimented extensively with different techniques in ceramic creation. At one stage he was taken up with shaping fancy teapots with rope designs out of clay. During another period the potter developed odd-shaped vases with folds resembling those of fabrics.

    Wang Hui-min will exhibit his ceramic paintings from March 3 to 12 at the Hsinsheng Gallery (110 Yenping South Road in Taipei). For more information, call Wang at his ceramic workshop in Yingko(tel.0912-207-758).