A R P X 陶瓷

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

Since the establishment of the "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 collaboration with art, the ARP brand seeks more opportunities for breakthroughs and integration while creating richer and more fashionable extended content.

Ceramic art has a long and vivid history. Zhang Min is a post-90s artist living and working in Jingdezhen. She has created a series of ceramic artworks focusing on the destruction and resetting process of ceramic materials and their physical structures, which she describes 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 close to each other were obviously the opportunity for this collaboration. Facing the helplessness in the real world, Zhang devotes herself to works as an expert, 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 line with the original practice 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 Jingdezhen. 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 transform 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 the song "full moon" from Ryuichi Sakamoto's studio album "async," which gathers the artist's thoughts on life and death over the past five years; this work "Round·Round," in the same way, is also a deep contemplation of certain moments in 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 are unique and as deep as shallow. There are three pieces in total, 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