Abstract:This essay outlines the conceptual and methodological framework of Darian Duan’s contemporary porcelain practice.
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.
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 tobe a mere carrier, and the painting ceases to be an embellishment; the twoconverge into a unified material and spatial field for artistic translation.
My methodology is not a continuation of a single traditionbut a creative synthesis and revaluation of multiple systems. This isexemplified in my evolution of Po-Cai (splashed colour). Traditionally atechnique rooted in Chinese painting on two-dimensional planes, Po-Caioften serves to evoke a generic "Eastern aesthetic." I have movedbeyond the pursuit of such stylistic tropes.
By shifting the creative field from the flat desk to thethree-dimensional ceramic volume, I have transformed the act of"splashing" into a controlled, rhythmic, and gravity-driven pouring—aslow, rotational descent. Consequently, the term Po (splat/splash) nolonger suffices. I have redefined this as Lin-Cai (Drip-Glazing),a term that encapsulates the integration of temporality, physical gravity, andrhythmic cadence. Thus, “splashed colour” is reconstituted as “poured colour,”a mode of practice that introduces a novel generative mechanism for theformation of pictorial structure.
What truly liberates this method from the tradition of decoration is the subsequent intervention of carved painting. By inscribing thealready completed surface, the composition is reconstructed, and the lines left by the carving transform the image from a visual language into a tangiblephysical structure. For the first time, painting asserts an independentidentity and acquires spatial dimension within porcelain. Here, there is anessential distinction between the two, which I must repeatedly emphasize: mycarved painting no longer possesses functional value in the traditional sense. It does not depict any material form in the physical world, but answers solelyto the artist’s emotions, thoughts, and spirit. It is a knife of metaphysicalemotion, of philosophical thought, of spiritual intent—rather than a knife of physical function or technical execution.
Throughout the history of porcelain, the use ofcarving tools has been thoroughly documented in China, Italy, and elsewhere,with established technical systems. Traditionally, carving has been regarded asa functional means for depicting form, ornament, or pattern. In my practice,however, it has undergone a radical transformation, evolving into a mechanismthat actively negates the historical authority of “completed” craft. It assumesthe role of reconstructing temporal and spatial structures for the expressionof a free spirit. By making destruction a generative condition, this approachestablishes a symbiotic relationship between painting, porcelain, andmaterial—a relationship of mutual imbrication and intimate fusion, wheresubjectivity flows seamlessly between artist and medium.
Colour has always been the heart of porcelain—as the adagegoes, "three parts form, seven parts painting." However, itsapplication has long been compartmentalized into rigid categories: Blue andWhite, Famille Rose, Copper Red, or Monochrome glazes. Whilehistorically significant, these have become fossilized as stylistic labels.
My practice does not aim to return to these establishedcategories; rather, it translates my understanding and perception of colour inpainting into the three-dimensional medium of porcelain. Colour is no longermerely a surface layer—it is brought into the temporal dimension of the workthrough the successive flows and overlaps of Poured Colour. The brushbecomes a vehicle for expressive chromaticity. Under the combined effects ofthe thickness of coloured glazes, the depth of carved lines, and the firing process,a visual experience emerges that is simultaneously spatial and fluid.
Taking classic blue-and-white porcelain as anexample, my approach to the cobalt pigment is not merely an attempt to continuethe historical lineage of “blue-and-white” decoration. Rather, I treat blue asa painterly language endowed with emotional density, temporal transformation,and structural weight. Through the layering and reconstruction of Poured Colour,brushwork, and the metaphysical incisiveness of carved lines, blue acquiresspatial dimensionality, temporal fluidity, and path unpredictability on theporcelain surface. In this way, the work decisively transcends the historicalauthority of “completed” decorative discourse confined to the planar surface.
When discussing originality, this does not imply a severingof connections with history, nor an oppositional stance toward it. On thecontrary, my practice is grounded in a deep understanding of the histories ofporcelain and painting. The difference lies in the fact that I do not attemptto return to any single tradition; rather, I treat splashed and pouredcolour, painting, carving, and other historical achievements asreactivatable, revelatory resources—tools through which contemporary creativitycan be generated.
Within the global context of porcelain, my work does not belong to blue-and-white, Famille Rose, or any established category, nor doesit fully correspond to any formal language of contemporary ceramics. Rather, it approaches a path yet to be named—a practice centred on my own painterly ideas and creative process, one that revaluates the historical “authority of completion,” generates new value through acts of destruction, and relies on the kiln as the ultimate arbiter in a collaborative material process. It is a contemporary porcelain practice in which artist, material, and fire conspire to produce form.
This practice does not seek to offer any definitive conclusion; rather, it continuously poses questions to society regarding the reality of life’s expression. When painting leaves the canvas and intervenes in porcelain as an expressive agent rather than mere decoration, and when porcelain refuses to be monopolized or constrained by the historical authority of “looking like porcelain” or by categorization, new possibilities emerge—raising questions about the direction of visual experience, performative engagement, and material relationships.
serve as a mere testament to technical completion; itbecomes an artistic form that unfolds in sync with contemporary lifeexperience. By introducing painterly methods into porcelain and infusingit with uncertainty, emotion, and spiritual energy, and by subjecting the workto trials of disruption, failure, and reconstruction—where destruction marksboth the starting and ending points of value generation—my creative objectiveis focused on exploring a new mode of existence for porcelain within thecontext of contemporary art.
This essay serves as the conceptual foundation of Darian Duan’s porcelain practice.It may be referenced in exhibitions, catalogues, and academic contexts.For a concise overview, see: Artist Profile
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