Polychrome Ceramic Series - Disharmony

The series Polychrome Ceramic Series - Disharmony was produced between 1994 and 1997.

'The Disharmony and Secrecy series (with glass fibre reinforced plastic, cloth, propylene and wax as materials) was made in the second half of 1995 [] as a series of “behavioural” discoveries to demonstrate my personal state of mind. Some of my fellow artists felt that these were more interesting than the Roaming series. I believe that [it] is because they are more modern (compared to the previous works), and more critical (of the reality). We [are living] in a time [and] space where all our happiness, anguish and other feelings can be demonstrated in the “parental theme” of the series. Through those solid, coloured and stimulating modellings, I vented all those feelings at will, reflecting my personal world of emotions. It is not as weary as creating an urban sculpture, since generally speaking, urban sculptures do not allow artists to express their personal emotions, while personal artistic behaviours become a form of art to demonstrate social issues in our lives.
More recently, with the [rapid] economic development, people’s appearances have experienced major transformation as well. But one would doubt if they also experience the same level of transformation deep in their hearts. There are now various unstable factors in the society, which often reveal themselves in people’s behavioural criteria. Various forms of disharmony happen in various social environments, while apparent magnificence fails to conceal the emptiness and fragility of the mind. We are living in this inconceivably realistic world, in which people are deeply entrenched and everybody is concerned about themselves and getting super sensitive.
I have long held that any material at hand can be used as an artwork’s means and media. The key is whether the material will be in [line] with what we want to express. In the Disharmony series, the seemingly irrelevant combination of disintegrated body parts, and the obsolete, traditional and popular dresses cause an unpleasant visual effect, thus, strengthening a sense of secrecy; [they all] happen in the real world.
In this series, the traditional colouring methods and the body modelling seem technique-free, leaving the focal point [of the work] to question: What kind of realistic issues are the series trying to present to people?'
(Text provided by the artist: 'On Coloured Sculpture Works' by Liu Jianhua. Written in December 1995, Kunming, China.)

Alternative title

Cai Su Xi Lie - Bu Xie Tiao; Coloured Sculpture - Disharmony

Access level

Online

Medium

Glass fiber, reinforced plastic, cloth, propylene, wax

Dimension

140cm x 39cm x 60cm

Content type

artwork documentation

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Polychrome Ceramic Series - Disharmony, 彩塑系列 - 不協調