Artist Statement

Whispers from the Earth, Sky, and Sea (Taipei, 2024)

01 June 2024

In 2019, 外琨塔 Vaikuntha 藝術中心 Gallery invited me to show some of my sculptures and functional ceramics in the exhibition called Parallel Space (空間) - Dec 20, 2019-Jan 5, 2020. The show included large sculptural and functional work that I had created at 抱瓶庵  Versammeln Pottery Studio under the guidance of Andrew Hsu, Cloud Forest Collective in the Yangmingshan, and Muddy’s Studio in Orange, California.  

The exhibition displayed a range of ceramic sculptures and vases. Andrew shared some of his fine tall ceramic vases in the show and I had included sculptures that I had made at Versammeln and some wood-fired vases that I made with Andrew’s help. Other work that I had made in Taiwan included soda-fired sculptures from my work at Cloud Forest Collective. I also included work from Muddy’s Studio in California that was glazed and high-fired stoneware.  The show was well-received and I am so grateful to everyone for that experience.

Since then, much has happened including the pandemic which paradoxically gave me more time in the California studio I work in called Muddy’s Studio.  I was able to create more sculptures and functional work that reflected the challenges we were facing, and hopefully brighter futures. The range of my sculptural work expanded from figurative work to more abstract forms depicting root-like structures evoking tension and movement. My sculptures allude to the work of Alberto Giacometti and Stephen De Stabler who both create a body of work depicting figurative work to illustrate the fragility and incompleteness of the human condition. In many ways my ceramics in all forms reflect this project of exploring our contemporary moment, the many challenges we are faced with and our hopes for harmony and peace in the future. I am developing several series of sculptures and for Whispers, I decided to bring just a few to show the contrast between my sculptural and functional ceramics.  Like all artist’s work, the art “speaks” and while my sculptural work speaks “loudly”, my functional work ”whispers.”  For more of my sculptures and other work, please see my online portfolio: e2reyes-ceramics.space 

The various bowls and vases in Whispers display a range of glazing techniques and combinations that hopefully give viewers a sense of harmony and peace.  My harmonizing palette contrasts with my sculptural pieces which often have facial expressions and partly decomposed bodies to evoke a sense of brokenness, struggle, and tension. For Whispers, the pieces evoke a sense of the earth, sky, and sea. I have included pieces that seem like dusk or dawn and have been tripled dipped to create overlapping tones of white, tan, blue and brown. Other pieces evoke the deep night sky with golden sparkles or ghostly streams of white within dark blue. I have also included pieces that are unique as sometimes glazing and firing does not always happen as planned. Also, several pieces are from the 2019 exhibition, so together the exhibition shows how my sculptural and functional ware has developed since 2019 in both design, composition, and intent. I hope you enjoy the show.