Ole Lislerud(THE KINGDOM OF NORWAY)

       As the international art scene at the turn of century, predominantly gives focus to conceptual work, ceramics finds itself still not accepted within the parameters of contemporary art, There is an intense momentum to the universal drive for originality in clay, but the fact is that contemporary art, There is an intense momentum to the universal drive for originality in clay, but the fact is that contemporary ceramics causes no ripples in the debate surrounding Modernism and Postmodernism. Ceramics is at odds with mainstream art , struggling to understand the situation and searching for strategies to deal with it .
       However, as we move into the 21st century we see some interesting developments internationally. One of the most notable is the focus on sculpture by Chinese and European artists. The traditions in Europe and China are incredibly different and the work echoes their respective cultures and philosophies. Europe and China are incredibly different and the work echoes their respective cultures and philosophies. Europe has a long tradition where painters and sculptors work with clay. Today artists like Mimmo Paladino, A.R.Penk, Bjorn Noergaard, Antony Gormly, Tony Cragg,  Anish Kappor, Kjell Erik killi Olsen, Hans van Hoek and Anton Tapies are presenting sculptures that give a new status and attention to art made in clay.
       One of the reasons for this development is the facillities and residency programmes offered at The European Ceramic Work Center at Hertogenbosch in Holland and The Tommerup Studio in Denmark.
      Furthermore, the never-ending debate on the issue of craft versus art, spearheaded by peter Dormer during the last 2 decades seems passe and only of academic interest today, So as the conceptual approach to art based on clay expands, the perception of contemporary art becomes more diverse and allows for new media and new expression.
      To emphasize this point, The National Academy of Art and Design in Oslo International  Ceramics Symposium in June 2003, The symposium theme, Concept and Material was chosen to initiate a rational confrontation between those who believe that ceramics is incapable of expressing meaning on a par with the other visual arts media, and those who believed it is in fact a superior medium due to its versatility and its ability to convey important expressions of life. The main symposium exhibition presented internationallly acknowledged sculptors and ceramic arttists. By doing so artists with and without a formal ceramic background were presented together in an effort to make a statement concerning contemporary art and bridging the gap.
       Similarly Bai Ming and Bai Lei in their recent book: Contemporary Ceramic in China, raise a number of interesting questions concerning the development in China, which simultaneously pertains to the basic issues of international ceramics and its search  for contemporary relevance. How can tradition be utilized as a source of inspiration how can ceramic art be accepted as contemporary art.
        The authors state that the development of Contemporary Chinese Ceramics has evolved independently form the trends of western ceramics and is more closely linked to contemporary Chinese painting. This is an interesting observation that gives meaning to the debate of localization and globalization. There is a need for new art forms, and in the face of international influences, it is important still to create a resonance in a national cultural identity. The development of the human figure as subject matter amongst Chinese artists is a strong link to the great traditions of Chinese sculpture with an emphasis on a narrative context. The sculptural work presented in the book: Contemporary Ceramic Art in China, gives an interesting insight in sculpture that is profoundly different from similar work by western artists. The sculptural traditions of China including the Terracotta Soldiers from Xi’ an, represent a historical reference of world importance, and an incredible source of inspiration in terms of developing contemporary strategies.
     Perhaps it is this sculptural heritage and artistic perspective that might be an important vehicle for Chinese ceramic art to bridge the gap into the world of contemporary art alongside other visual art forms. As sculpture based on clay develops during this decade new strategies can be developed to gain attention from curators, museums, press and also from the public. Chinese artists have a unique possibility to make this transition that no other culture has.
    However, in the discourse on the development of contemporary ceramics there is a need to be more analytical in terms of what the future may hold. In my opinion ceramics will always be a part of the craft world, but sculpture and architectural work will increasingly cross over into contemporary art. Just as the craft movement was the result of a few individuals like Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada and Peter Voulkos, the next phase will similarly be the result be the result of a few strong artists challenging the establishment.
    In the USA an interesting development is taking place where some of the most prominent artists who have established themselves there are foreigners: Jun Kaneko from Japan, Sergei Isopov from Russia, Ruth Duckworth from the UK, Takio Akimori from Japan, and Claudio Cassanovas from Spain. Similarly some of the most established American artists internationally, working in clay, live in Europe like: Betty Woodman and Michael Lucero in Italy. There are of course many exceptions to this statement Jeff Koons, Robert Rauschenberg and Steven Montgommery but even so, this still points to an interesting sitration where artists from USA no longer dominate the international arena. The marketplace is definitely still sustained by US standards, but new and groundbreaking work is being done elsewhere.
    To be accepted within contemporary art it will be necessary for sculpture made in clay to be exhibited alongside sculpture made in other media. Art critics and art historians continuously maintain that concep-tual work cannot be expressed in clay perse. This is an absurdity and totally without meaning.
    Artists working in clay, with ambitious of recognition in the world of contemporary art must obviously develop strategies and a network to enable them to exhibit in museums and galleries considered important by the art establishment.
    The essence of art is change and as sculpture in clay experiments in search of new forms and new venues for presenting itself, this will also create a challenge for those dealing with categorizing art. Tony Cragg puts it this way “ anything can be a carrier of information. The artist is just someone who develops mking strategies to get objects to carry new meanings. However, this process of naming, a predicate of Modernism, is not for me the prime motivation of art making now. A new era of sculpture making is beginning. We have all the materials, the difference between the art and non-art world has almost vanished, and the question-is it art-is no longer being asked. I am more involved with questions such as, what kind of new structures can we make, and what kinds of meaning will these structures bear?”
    This statement represents an interesting challenge to contemporary Chinese and international ceramic art. By utilizing the specifics of clay, the surface as a way of entry into the material, and imbuing it with new experiences and archaic universal understanding, its ability to convey interpretation and meaning repre-sents a new challenge. The essential dynamics of the art forms is based on the sculptural process where the physical making creates the work.
    All sculpture is an eminently good discipline for learning about and discovering the physical we live in and our position within it. Sculpture is a discipline that only started to live up to its potential last century. Now it is a threshold where artists of the future especially those working in clay, will be able to create new physical and psychological extensions into space.
    It is with great pleasure that I accepted the invitation to write a foreword to this book by Bai Ming and hope that these comments can contribute to the further discussion on the theme of international ceramics, in search of contemporary relevance.

                                                           Professor Ole Lislerud