2025｜Ceramics｜The Vessel as Narrative Sketches
- Title
- Chang e on the moon
- Size
- A5
- Medium
- Pencil and paper
Artist Statement
1) The Contemporary Voice
Diego Romero's art combines native American art styles with modern imagery, including technology, modern activities, and superheroes. Some of his works also depict scenes of European colonial terror on native Americans. His work appeals to me because of the way he fuses past and present humorously in his art, yet can also fixate on the severity of past injustices; I find his method of advocacy through humor and cartoon-like irony interesting. I also do like superheroes, especially DC, a lot, and I often like incorporating comic-book styles in my own art. Besides, his background as someone who feels torn between two cultures, not fitting into either one, does also speak to me and shows through his art, something I also hope to achieve.
2) Historical Precedent
I researched Cantonese traditional pottery styles, which often feature intricate reliefs, colorful designs, and images of Chinese mythology. Due to Hong Kong's traditions as a center of commerce, the colorful, detailed, and commercialized designs reflect its cosmopolitan nature. The pieces often have simpler shapes and forms, such as plain bowls and plates, to focus attention on their detailed surfaces instead.
3) Documentation Requirement
"What elements of FORM (shape) and SURFACE (design) from these two sources can be synthesized to express a story relevant to my own life or community?"
Cantonese pottery and Romero's pottery both focus a lot on the surface design rather than the form of the piece. Furthermore, Romero's fusion of multiple cultures and the traditional and the modern reflects Cantonese culture, as it is a modern center of entertainment, yet has deep cultural roots. In order to synthesize these two styles, I might use Romero's and other pueblo potters' methods of using sgraffito, slip painting (like Maria Martinez), or simply only two colors to depict traditional Chinese scenes, integrating the modern and the traditional by using geometric patterns and contemporary styles of art or inputting technology within Chinese myths.