MFA Thesis Exhibit

ChengOu Yu

Ceramic Art

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Artist Statement

The pot as an icon/sign that holds the history it carries, the meaning it contains and the concept It potentially delivers – the influence of the pot is significant in my practice. I use symbolic form to unfold and create meanings. My life and educational experiences have made me aware of the contrast and conflicts between eastern and western cultures. Ideas and things are interpreted differently based on human experience and assumptions. Cultural context impacts what things become symbols and how meaning is held.

The experience of living in different places and cultures energizes my interest in concepts of representation, movement, and distortion. I analyze forms, building representations from the interpretation of things. I orchestrate relationships through the interactions of ‘object to object’ and ‘object to viewer’ in the space. Space is not only a physical location, it also activates subjects. Distances between different things and objects, during encounter, creates tension, and energy.

Working with clay allows me to build structurally and metaphorically while I negotiate a material that is limited and limitless, strong and fragile, mass and light, stiff and fluid. It stretches, moves, distorts in all possible ways.