Anchoret, Sutra, Alchemy and Lions: Chinese Ceramics from the 3rd to 9th Century

2020.9.26-2021.01.03


Anchoret, Sutra, Alchemy and Lions: Chinese Ceramics from the 3rd to 9th Century is the first exhibition of ancient art held in the newly founded M WOODS Art Museum. Based on the museum’s own collection, the exhibition gathers together exquisite antique ceramics from private collections all over China. Setting out from the standpoint of history and natural history, it brings to the audience a feast of Chinese ceramic art from the 3rd to 9th century through the perspective and curatorial language of contemporary art.


白釉梅瓶，隋

褐釉画彩蹲兽，南北朝（北朝）

As a product of human practice, ceramics evolved with the economic, technological and cultural development of society since the Neolithic period. According to Chinese mythology, Nüwa creates human beings by molding clay into the shape of people, and ceramics, just like human, is born from earth. Making ceramics is an art of transformation, the beauty of which lies in chance, in the fragility and irreversibility and also in the inability to be fully mastered.

The exhibition is divided into four sections - “Anchoret”, “Sutra”, “Alchemy” and “Lions”. The four figures represent crucial participants as well as agents of change in Chinese society from the 3rd to 9th century. Through these seemingly irrelevant yet interrelated identities and metaphors, the exhibition chooses the medium of ceramics to unfold the natural environment, social change as well as people’s state of mind during this period of time.

三彩器一组，唐代

缁素瓷一组，隋-唐

青釉神兽形尊，西晋

Adhering to our philosophy of F.A.T. - free, alchemical and timeless, we invite Leung Man-tao, IJAPA and Hu Jun Jun to contribute to the exhibition as participating writer, musician and artist. They will tell their own stories of “Anchoret”, “Sutra”, “Alchemy” and “Lions” to bridge conversations between art of the past and present and to reinterpret antique artefacts from a contemporary perspective. With a free and open mind, we search for authentic spirituality extracted alchemically from unknown substances in a timeless dimension, aiming to achieve the fusion of art and life.