ARP X ZHANG MIN

A R P 陶瓷 x ZHANG MIN.

A R P Ceramics, part of a series of collaboration with ceramic artists based in the "Porcelain Capital" Jindezhen. Artist ZhangMin created works focusing on destruction and resetting process of ceramic materials and their physical structures.

Since the establishment of "Waz Common Art Fund" in 2021, the brand has been committed to expanding art projects beyond fashion. This is a long-term and inclusive project planning as well as the goal that P.J strives to pursue. In the cross-boundary with art, the ARP brand seeks more opportunity for breakthrough and integration, also creates more rich and fashionable extended content.

Ceramic art has a long and vivid history. Zhang Min is a post-90s artist living and working in Jingde Town. she had created a series of ceramic art works focusing on the destruction and resetting process of ceramic materials and their physical structures, which she put it as "breaking the stable structure and forming a new one instead".

If art means to build a sensible spiritual world, originating from the creator's infinite observation within life, then the daily habits closing to each other was obviously the opportunity for this collaboration. Facing the helplessness in real world, Zhang devotes herself to works as an exports, taking rebellion as a symbol, and absorbs every fresh present moment in a state of openness and curiosity, she spares no effort to explore the ceramic art of "the part and the whole, the frame and the variant". The artist’s pursuit is especially in similar with the original practise intention of the ARP brand. "It needs to be simplified, it needs to have more texture, it needs to be powerful, it needs to be creative, and it needs to maintain idealism and optimism at all times..."

"2 and 1/2"

The "2 1/2" series was inspired by a casual stroll in an old factory in Jingde Town. Through artificial stacking, the original monotonous traditional vases suddenly became vivid. The artist automatically combined the classical vase shapes, preserving the seam between the bottle bodies, to transforming the ordinary daily life into an interesting moment, and produced a slight change in people's view towards the familiar things.

"2 1/2" evolved from the two classic jardiniere shapes: the Pear-Shaped Vase and the Pomegranate-Shaped Vase. They were sintered by the method of drawing and splicing, and the surface treatment technique came from the studio’s experiment. The cracked skin of the Pink model was fired three times at different temperatures, forming a hardened texture of the mud and glaze split. The Black&Red version was completed with textured black and red glaze. Covered with a layer of bubbling glaze, the White model has a texture of sea wave sand. Each piece was entirely handcrafted, with the same style but different quality.

Size: 12 * 12 * 32 cm
Materials: ceramic
Color: white, black&red, pink

"Round·Round"

Inspired by song "full moon" from Ryuichi Sakamoto's studio album "async", which gathers the artist's thoughts of life and death over the past five years; this work "Round·Round", in the same way, is also a deep contemplation on certain moments of the ceramist’s own life. One imperfect circle after another may be the true appearance of our life.

The surface of "Round·Round" is covered with a special texture made of foam glue. This work was spliced by grouting, while after drying, the ball was fired and formed, and completely closed up and down in one. Its appearance shows specific small holes and traces of mud, which is unique, and as deep as shallow. There are three pieces in total, which colored with black, red and white glazes respectively.

What we hate is such horrible accuracy.
Because we don't know when we will die,
we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well.
And yet everything happens only a certain number of times,
and a very small number really.
How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood,
some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't conceive of your life without it?
Perhaps four,or five times more?Perhaps not even that.
How many more times will you watch the full moon rise?
Perhaps twenty.And yet it all seems limitless...

——Ryuichi Sakamoto《full moon》

Size: 14 * 14 cm
Materials: ceramic, foam
Color: red, white, black