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.
