Chun Liao at Barrett Marsden Gallery, London

Chun Liao
Barrett Marsden Gallery, London
15 October - 13 November 2004

Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 1998, Chun Liao has won wide critical acclaim for her exquisite porcelain pots. These are informed by her research into ancient Chinese porcelain bodies and glazes, knowledge she transforms and extends to produce distinctive, contemporary form.

The tapering shapes are finely thrown and finished in a single glaze colour. Chun Liao has recently chosen to restrict her palette to a clear glaze, either used alone, or stained black or with copper carbonate, but she encourages subtle variations of tone and texture through the density of their application and by differing temperature settings of the kiln. Other decorative details are similarly understated, such as where the thin rims of the pots are left delicately ragged, or where tiny rods of applied silver wire descend deep into a wall during the firing process, melting to leave a green coloured trace.

The new body of work is intimate in scale, varying from barely 1cm to 7cms in height. Chun Liao‘s approach is deceptively simple - to throw pots this size demands an extraordinary degree of skill, with the smallest requiring the clay to be steadied on the wheel and pulled up using only the ring or little fingers. Their diminutive scale serves to magnify the characteristics of each form. It underscores their preciousness and calls attention to their seemingly endless range of subtle nuances.

CHUN LIAO was born in Taiwan in 1969 and came to Britain in the early 1990s. She trained in ceramics at Brighton College of Technology, Bath Spa University and the Royal College of Art. Her work has been widely exhibited in the UK, the Netherlands, USA and China and is included in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Crafts Council, London.

BARRETT MARSDEN GALLERY
17-18 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DN
www.bmgallery.co.uk