Shen Jialiang was sent down to the countryside where he learned
to make porcelain. He returned to Shanghai and learned to paint.
Now he paints on porcelain, fires up his kiln and finally withdraws
his "babies," writes Tan Xian.
An oil painting on a porcelain vase, each one a work of art?
It's not an illusion. Under Shen Jialiang's hand, the two totally
different genres become an East-meets-West work of art.
Porcelain, one of China's most delicate and intricate legacies,
has undergone a revolution in both design and technique through
Shen's creations.
Shen, inventor of the unique "Haipai (Shanghai-style)
porcelain," has many secret skills of porcelain coloring. And a
show of his artwork is now running at Levant Art Gallery.
Shen is bold in the use of some pigments that most of his peers
don't have the courage to try. Thanks to his mastery of certain
pigments, he has even created a series of oil painting-textured
vases, a perfect combination of traditional Chinese art with
Western elements.
Shen insists in solving all the problems by himself during the
creative process.
"It is my ability to fix all the difficulties that make my work
and style unique so that no one can imitate or copy them," he says.
"I love conquering the difficulties that others fear."
According to Shen, glazes liquify when heated to 1,300 degrees
Celsius, so it's very difficult to control them when they flow.And
different thicknesses of a pigment can result in different colors,
so the colorful painting only can be appreciated after it is fired.
"The result is never what you had precisely in your mind - it
can be very close but not exactly the same," says Karen Zheng,
owner of Levant Art Gallery, who majored in relics appreciation.
Just weeks before, one of Shen's recent pieces won the first
prize at this year's Shanghai Art Fair and was sold for 200,000
yuan (US$25,600)
Shen thinks he is lucky: On one hand he knew how to paint and
started out as a painter, and on the other hand, he knew the skills
of making porcelain.
"Many painters have excellent designs, but they can not deal
well with pigment and glaze; while many artisans have good skills,
they do not know how to create," Shen explains.
During elementary school, Shen began to learn drawing with Shen
Manyun, one of the masters of comic strip art in Shanghai at the
time. His teacher helped him form the habit of observing and
sketching, a habit he maintains to this day.
Shen stayed in Jingdezhen, widely known as China's capital of
porcelain, in Jiangxi Province, and studied how to make porcelain
since he was 16. He came back to Shanghai in 1993, when the city
just began its rapid development.
"I often sketched during my time in Jingdezhen and I still
remember the zigzagging villages and the small hills that greatly
influence my work," he recalls.
Shen's series "The Fun of Kids" featuring a naive little girl
with her eyes slightly looking up seems to show that innocent
countryside influence.
He says that for a long time his mind was filled with a vague
image of a little girl, but he couldn't paint her from his
imagination. Then he saw a student who was taken to his painting
class by her mother (Shen teaches kids painting in the Children's
Palace).
He finally took his inspiration from the innocence and shyness
of this little girl, who lifted her eyes a little when greeting
him. "But I haven't seen this little girl again after several
months," says Shen.
The artist sees all his works as his "babies." And when the kiln
furnace is to open, he's just like an anxious "father," waiting for
the birth of his "children."
"In my life, the happiest moment is the time when the furnace
opens," says Shen, "and I find all my 'babies' are safe and sound
there."
When asked whether his son will inherit his "secret skills,"
Shen says mildly: "He has his own choice, and he is not and won't
be me."
Shen believes that it's his history and his experience that
created him.
"I was sent to the countryside when I was young, which enabled
me to learn all the basic skills of making porcelain. And I'm so
lucky that I finally came back to Shanghai, and was shocked by its
modern and new ideas.
"All these things - old and new - formed me and my work, not my
son," the painter-ceramist adds.
(Shanghai Daily January 5, 2007)