January 14, 2026
Painting and Porcelain from SurfaceOrnamentation to Structural Methodology
By Darian Duan
Artistic concepts often arise from an artist’s response tothe issues they care about. Porcelain art today faces a pressing challenge: inthe contemporary context, must it still be understood solely in terms of “type”and “technique”? This phenomenon significantly hinders its development. Or,like painting, could porcelain become a continually evolving system of ideasand methods, thereby breaking the stalemate and gaining the freedom to beginanew?
It is precisely from this awareness of the issue that Iintroduced the concepts and methods of painting into porcelain practice.Consequently, my work with porcelain is not based on the continuation ofexisting styles or decorative types but seeks to reposition the possibilitiesof porcelain within a global context.
I. Painting and Porcelain from: SurfaceOrnamentation to Structural Methodology
Throughout the history of global ceramics, the relationshipbetween painting and porcelain has been largely confined to the"decorative." Whether through the design of patterns or theapplication of pigments—underglaze, overglaze, or specific palettes like famillerose—the act of painting has remained a visual filling of the object'ssurface.
My practice does not deny this history but seeks to liberatepainting from its decorative servitude. I treat painting as a structural,open-ended methodology that permeates the very "bone" (the claybody) of the object. In this context, painting ceases to function as a surfaceornament and instead participates in the ontological logic of the porcelainobject itself. It intervenes in the glaze and even the clay body, destabilizingthe hierarchical authority of predetermined decorative “completion,” and ultimatelyleading toward a contemporary reconstitution of artistic form.
The vessel ceases to be a mere carrier, and the painting ceases to be an embellishment; the two converge into a unified material and spatial field for artistic translation.
To be continue
