Shiny and smooth, soft in color, and perfectly shaped, porcelain has been the ultimate embodiment of Chinese aesthetics for thousands of years. From a vase, to a jar, to an incense burner, they are also perfect examples of functional art.
The close involvement with people's everyday lives explains why the ancient craft is still alive, and thrives in the hands of porcelain-makers in modern China, including Gao Zhenyu. It has been nearly two decades since Gao began making porcelain.
Porcelain Maker Gao Zhenyu said, "I believe that it is the functional part of porcelain-ware that gives it its soul, its spirit. A piece of porcelain comes alive if it has a certain usage. Otherwise, its very existence loses meaning. It is dead, in very much the same sense as when a flower withers and dries-up."
None of Gao's works are simply for show. Part of the artist's love for functional porcelain can be attributed to the boccaro teapot that Gao made early in his career. Thousands of miles away from Beijing, in the east China city of Yixing, almost every household makes boccaro teapots.
They are named after the reddish-brownish mud found only in the area.
Gao was born in the city, and learned how to make tea pots from his mother, who does it even today in her son's home.
Gao also said, "I began making boccaro teapots in the early 1980s. At the time I found that very few porcelain tea cups could match the tea pots I made in terms of quality. Boccaro is ideal material for making tea pots, but not cups. Why? Since boccaro is dark in color, and cups made of it hide the color of the tea itself. Moreover, the rim of the cup is not as tender to the lips as porcelain can be. So, I started making some porcelain tea cups."
Once Gao started, he never stopped. In 1990, he went to Japan and studied porcelain-making at the prestigious Musashino Art University in Tokyo. There, Gao was impressed by the way porcelain was integrated into people's daily life.
And Gao said, "Porcelain is irresistible to we humans. It is actually one of the most desirable materials to be used in everyday life. Mud can be shaped into whatever you want. Besides, porcelain is not only beautiful to look at, but also feels great to touch. Japanese porcelain has a strong handmade flavor, whereas in making China's boccaro teapots you follow strict rules. However, the ultimate goal is the same for all artists: to achieve effortless perfection."
To achieve what Gao calls "effortless perfection" is not easy. He never makes pencil marks - every stroke of his carving knife is done spontaneously. Not a single line goes wrong.
Gao says that if you added-up the total length of the lines he has ever carved end-to-end, it would add up to hundreds of kilometers. He calls them "water lines" because they resemble the silent flowing of water; rhythmical and poetic. Pure white and green are Gao's favorite colors. He believes that his works are only part of the "picture".
Gao said, "Much of the porcelain-ware I make are actually containers. You can put something into it. For example, food, such as seasonal fruits and vegetables. If you fill the container, it becomes a beautiful picture. So I think any more paint on the porcelain itself would be redundant."
Nowadays, Gao has students coming to see him regularly. Many of them are not professional porcelain-makers, but all are invariably enthusiastic about learning the craft. Gao always reminds them about the importance of concentration.
He said, "When you are shaping the mud, it grows higher and higher. But my arm can't grow. So I can only make porcelain of this height. If I was Yao Ming, maybe I could make it higher. The key of working with mud is that you must feel at one with it. You and the mud are part of each other. This is the highest state a porcelain maker can ideally expect to reach."
Gao says, if you lose concentration the mud will collapse instantly. He also says that feeling his grainy texture of the mud is like communicating with it. You must know it very well before working with it. And after a hard day's work, there might be nothing more soothing for Gao Zhenyu than sitting down for a cup of tea, brewed with his own works.
(CCTV November 8, 2005)
