MANKEING AS INTELLIGENCE

Write by Wayne Higby: ceramic artst, Professor of Alfred ceramics college(USA) ,IAC VIse President

Issue 4\2001 < Greece “International Ceramic Art Review >

It comes as no surprise to read that the People 's Republic of China is a nation undergoing a major economic and social facelift. Government policies have shifted and opportunity abounds like never before. The future is unfolding at an uncanny speed. During the past ten years China has experienced more economic growth than any other country in the world. This surge of energy is impressive, to say the least, although it carries with it the burden of absolute urgency. Urgency demanded by lingering doubt. The dynamics of China 's new lease on life are complex and at times bewildering. There is uncertainty.

Ceramic artists in China have begun to experience new freedom of possibility as policy changes and economic shifts have allowed them to step out of the once limiting confines of academic institutions and factories to find additional support for individual effort. They have discovered a new flexibility. In the process they are beginning to see ceramics in a different light. Although they may see China 's ceramic tradition as a great cultural achievement, they wish to be unencumbered by its dictates. Lu Bin is a ceramic sculptor who fits this profile. He is an artist at the forefront of a new direction for Chinese ceramic art.

Lu Bin lives in Shen zhen, near Hong Kong , a city within the borders of former Premier Deng Xiao Ping's blessed, economic development zones. Lu Bin chose Shenghen after graduating in 1988 from Nanjing College of Art in ceramics because, as he says, the city was one of the fastest growing, most exciting cities in China . There he has been able to work full time on his sculpture without holding down a teaching or factory design job.

Lu Bin has to settle into a single theme-a signature statement, a recognizable system emblematic of a resolute vision. It is this fact that makes his work most fascinating. It is this fact that makes his work so reflective of China in transition. Lu Bin's sculptural strategy is to ask questions as it is to offer answers or connections. His work is the result of finding. Clearly, it is an exceptional example of making as intelligence. Artists make things to understand, to analyze, to study, to discover. Lu Bin's ceramic sculptures are manifestations of his keen ability to intuit a reflection of the moment – the Chinese moment, the Chinese now. Lu Bin's work probes. It structures uncertainty. His work charts seemingly different courses but at its center Lu Bin's sculpture is all a dissertation on the ancient context of mankind, as gravity, as earth, landscape, architecture – as time honored place, With fired clay as his foil, he introduces us to elements of life in the present.

There are pieces entitled “ Chinese Characters” where calligraphic symbols, a most distinctive ingredient of Chinese tradition and national character, are held captive – packaged in cylinders of earth as if catalogued and archives for study or protected and stored for future use. Another direction Lu Bin refers to as “Brick and Wood”. An example, “ Brick and Wood Structure IV” appears to be two plum bobs or parts of a compass made from wood and ceramic elements crafted carefully together by the rules of traditional building technique. What is implied?Aren ' t plum bobs and compasses tools of measurement? Are these tools of Lu Bin's analogies for the role of the past and tradition in constructing the present and future? This question is addressed again in “Brick and Wood Structures XVI-XXI.” Here the plum bobs or compasses are accompanied by a wheel and food imagery is especially ingenious given the fact that China as a culture is unrivalled in the use of the “language” of food. Food is often applied as a code to communicate social messages, to mark status, respect, etc, during business or other convivial occasions. Although the apple, which Lu Bin appropriates for “Fossil 2000 II” can be grown in temperate zones around the world, it could legitimately be thought of as a “Western” fruit. Scholarly documentation suggest that the apple originated in the Caucasus region of central Europe and was , in fact, introduced to China via trade with the countries of northern Europe . Taking all this one step further, the apple might be thought of as a typically. American fruit. There is considerable American folklore to confirm the ease of the assumption. This may be more information than necessary. Nevertheless, it is intriguing to consider Lu Bin's use of the apple image as part of the provocative other implements that appear in this particular case to be pieced together as the result of a careful restoration. Other pieces in the “Brick and Wood "series- ” Structures X,” “ XI” and “XII”-make reference to be the most concerned with memory and sense of place and past.

Altough Lu Bin has yet to settle on one singular direction, he clearly has a solid grasp on the modernist foundations of form and space. His pieces are articulate and technically resolved examples of the 20 th century language of sculpture and ceramics. However, he has moved his work from the isolated pedestal of modernism and brought it into the street –into the narrative of daily encounter. Lu Bin's “Fossil” series turns present life into history.

Of particular interest is Lu Bin uses images of food to advance his sculptural commentary. His manipulation of like .The best we can do is to is to prepare ourselves before entering the fire.”

Lu Bin's sculpture reflects life experiences. It is made in unity with the philosophy by which his life is lived. Changing and dynamic, it is refreshingly free of formula. It is work purely driven by necessity. It is making as intelligence. Lu Bin is a vital force –a critical voice in the unfolding of a new Chinese ceramic art.