Ting-Ju Shao: Ceramic art
Children in dark uniforms salute each other with closed eyes, in solemn obedience and in praise of their egos which crown them with the illusion of power. The loss of innocence becomes a broken promise affecting an entire generation, confused and damned to experience the tragedy of not being able to fly. Greed is blind to the light and enslaves the individual, who is preoccupied with satisfying selfish ambitions, impossible to achieve goals and insatiable longings rather than the spiritual needs. Finally, in the era of the product, human value is measured in commercial terms and market laws – you are good for society as long as you are able to produce and consume.
Taiwanese artist Ting-Ju Shao has been creating ceramic art for the past three decades, and highlights in her works today’s contradictions and the absurdity of human beliefs and actions: “We moderns are constrained by our minds. Our egos that cannot be satisfied always urge to meet the need for more desires. Through contemplation of stillness in every present moment, I want to search the original joy of being as well as the link to our inner peace, which has been lost for generations.”
Through their skilfully constructed appearance and gestures, the figures and their unsettling silence reveal the aspects that deeply concern the artist – essential questions of existence, the imprisonment of the mind and soul, the relationship between people and between man and the environment which he only damages and fails to control. This striking suffering defining the human condition in a world built on avidity and indifference is a warning to open the eyes and find the way towards the freedom and uncorrupted judgment we once had.
‘The Ego of- The Battle of Mind’, 2016, 58hx50x20 cm
‘Myself is no longer complete once I desert that promise’, 2013, 31.5hx18x16 cm
‘Age of Greed, Against the Light’, 2012, Western Oregon University, U.S.A. View more.
‘In the 21st Century everyone can be labeled for commercial sale, except for keepers of free minds and free souls’, 2007
‘Your Majesty, where are you going?’, 2004. This work is in the permanent collection of The New Taipei City Yingge Ceramic Museum.
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Images © Ting-Ju Shao