Author Archives: Marc Leuthold

Longquan, China “Crashing Ceramics” Exhibition at Wangou Art Museum

The new forms in Leuthold’s installation, Longquan Hands, in the exhibition “Crashing Ceramics” are derived from the squeezing of clay in the hand. Over 100 visitors to the artist’s Longquan studio were invited to squeeze clay including the mayor, the repairman, the cleaner, and artists. A leader asked if he could sign the clay he had squeezed in hands. I suggested he shouldn’t so the focus here in China would remain on an ideal where every person matters. These beautiful forms, some glazed and some unglazed, hang above and around circular sculptures. When trying to get close to the circular sculptures, viewers may inadvertently collide with the suspended squeezed forms causing them to chime. In the Taoist tradition, the ringing of bells and the playing of music has special significance, as it is both an instrument in the temple and a medium to evoke reverence for the spiritual.

Mr. Feng Boyi with Li Yifei, and Gao Wenjian curated the “Crashing Ceramics” exhibition at the Wangou Art Museum, May 5 – October 1, 2025. The exhibit features “material based” artists, – artists who work with concepts, installation, video, ceramics, glass, metal, wood, and other media, often in combination. In the West artists of this kind are often called craft artists. “Crashing Ceramics” artists have exhibited at MoMA, NYC, the Metropolitan Museum, NYC, Centre Pompidou, Paris, the Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Beijing, the Venice Biennale, Italy, the British Museum, London, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA, the Rockbund Museum, Shanghai, and the Sidney Biennale, Australia.

“Migration” exhibition

“Migration” is a solo exhibit featuring 54 sculptures and a large wall installation at the Guangdong Shiwan Ceramics Museum of Foshon in Guangzhou City, China. Leuthold is the first foreigner to be invited to present a solo exhibition at the Museum. Most of the works were created in China from 2018-2022 when Leuthold worked in China as the first and only foreigner to be appointed to a full-time ceramics professorship in China. Most of the works feature Leuthold’s signature carvings and/or circular forms. The wall installation consists of 8 paintings recording Leuthold’s gestural movements in creating art along with 50 carved ceramic discs. Most of the fluted discs feature an abstracted silhouette of iconic persons the artist admires. One of the discs references a Chinese national craft master based in Dehua.
The exhibit shares the results of an artist who migrated his practice to China for five years. Interestingly, some of this period includes the Pandemic period. And usually, Leuthold experienced lengthy lockdowns both in Shanghai and in New York City, a challenging time that allowed for artistic contemplation.

2024 Quyang City creation residency, Quyang, China

National Craft Master Pang invited Marc Leuthold to create art with ancient Ding Yao clays at the historic Quyang kiln site. Leuthold is the first foreigner to be invited to work with this clay. Ding ware from the Song Dynasty are considered by many to be among the most refined ceramic vessels. Quyang is one of the five famous kiln sites in China.

Leuthold made a large body of artwork mostly referencing the mountainous landscape with autumnal allusions.

The Quyang City government also commissioned Leuthold to design a public art project. “Sunrise” consists of a 225 cm diameter carved granite circular sculpture and three similarly large freeform stones – an ensemble referencing the local mountains. This stone group is scheduled to be installed along a lake in the Quyang City central park.

Unsayable Installation at Yijin Museum

The Yijin Museum hosted a Leuthold solo exhibition in the Spring of 2023. The exhibition was a two-part interactive installation. Part 1: Leuthold invited visitors to walk on his porcelains while viewing a video of his work intermittently dissolving and reconstructing from and into kaleidoscopic abstract patterns and artwork.

Part II: With the resulting shards of Part 1, Leuthold constructed a translucent porcelain sculpture within a glass box inscribed with a text by Rainer Maria Rilke that inspired the title of exhibition, “Unsayable.”

Then, joining Marina Abamovic, Julian Opie and others, Leuthold’s Part 1 was included as a keynote exhibition for the summer-long 2023 “Seeking the CIty ” exhibitions hosted by the city of Datong in Western China.

An expanded version of Part 1 will be included in the upcoming “Pulse of the Hinterland,” 4th Xinjiang International Art Biennale at the Xinjiang Art Museum in the Uyghur Autonomous Region of China during the summer and fall 2024 – curated by Central Academy of Art Museum (Beijing) Director Zhang Zikang.

Leuthold donated the Part II solar powered sculpture to the Chantilly Art Center of Shanghai where it was installed outdoors. The work was a statement about “time” and the cycle of creation, destruction and rebirth.

Critic Mario Cutajar comments, ‘The “Unsayability” of art may also point to its original connection with the Sacred. Per German scholar and philosopher Rudolf Otto (1869-1937), the Sacred is the “Wholly Other” and thus outside of the scope of discursive understanding and only apprehensible by a cognitive faculty open to revelation.’

Leuthold comments, “Brokenness is very much the marker of our age. How and when the inevitable renewal begins is unknown.”

More images and videos.

Marc Leuthold’s Foray Into Fiberart

Marc Leuthold’s display at the 12th “From Lausanne to Beijing” International Fiberart Biennale Exhibition at the Yunnan Museum in China.

Chief Curator, Professor Lin Lecheng of Tsinghua University invited Marc Leuthold to create fiberart sculptures to exhibit in the 12th “From Lausanne to Beijing” International Fiberart Biennale Exhibition at the Yunnan Museum in China. For decades, this exhibition has served as the world’s foremost fiberart exhibition. 

Professor Lin invited Leuthold to work collaboratively with China National Craft Master Ai Jing Wei’s studio in Yunnan Province. In North America, Leuthold filmed short videos and created paper templates and maquettes.  Using Leuthold’s videos and stills, Mr. Ai’s artisans recreated the sculptures in silk.  Leuthold also directed variations of the historic indigo dying process to allow for varied results. This experiment yielded a collection of silk sculptures that, in combination with porcelains, are being exhibited in the Biennale among established fiberart masters. 

Leuthold comments, “My parents studied at the STF Schweitzerische Textilfachschule in Zurich and wove fabrics for decades. As a child, I designed for my father and from ages 12 to14, I wove every day. Blue and white porcelains are a revered tradition in China. Now, as a ceramist with my personal history, working with indigo to create blue and white silk sculptures seemed especially intriguing. I am deeply grateful to Professor Lin and Master Ai for supporting this project.”

Detail view.
Leuthold and Professor Lin Lecheng with Lin’s artwork.