《凝散》
Pressing into Cracks and Blooms I
Frontier Gallery 52 & 54, Taipei, Taiwan (2022)
Curated By: Taipei Artist Village Residency
Photo Credits: Xinwei Che
Installation view of 《凝散》 Pressing into Cracks and Blooms I, Frontier Gallery 52 & 54, Taipei, Taiwan, 2022.
Performance-Installation
Duration: 14 days
Materials:
Local raw clay, traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, water, rice paper
An empty bowl often symbolizes receptivity and openness in Eastern philosophical traditions. Undergoing a turbulent period of personal loss and change while preparing for her solo exhibition at Esplanade Singapore, Che made thousands of raw clay pinch pots in her studio as a meditation on grief and transformation.
During Che's artist residency at Taipei Artist Village (2022), she began her material research into the unique cohering forces and porosity of clay by filling raw clay vessels with vibrantly-coloured medicine. Learning from her mother's traditional Chinese medicine practice, Che brings the elemental associations of colours and traditional herbs into her studio.
Che's porous clay vessels inevitably seep, soften, crack, and collapse, creating blooming stains in their aftermath. Enacting this transformative process repeatedly in her performance-installation at Frontier Gallery, Che invites viewers to contemplate rupture as a generative condition rather than a record of destruction.
Xinwei Che, 《凝散》 Pressing into Cracks and Blooms I. Local raw clay, traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, water, rice paper. Frontier Gallery 52 & 54, Taipei, Taiwan, 2022.Xinwei Che, 《凝散》 Pressing into Cracks and Blooms I. Local raw clay, traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, water, rice paper. Frontier Gallery 52 & 54, Taipei, Taiwan, 2022.Xinwei Che, 《凝散》 Pressing into Cracks and Blooms I. Local raw clay, traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, water, rice paper. Frontier Gallery 52 & 54, Taipei, Taiwan, 2022.