Yen-Ran Wang

By the time Yen-Ran Wang had finished vocational training and was ready to enter the ceramics industry as a production worker, manufacturing no longer took place in Taiwan. In a striking example of how globalisation can impact one’s personal life, Wang decided not to waste his technical knowledge, and stuck to ceramics. He studied craft design and contemporary art and is now an internationally recognised artist. At EWKC, he investigated the near-universal formal language of the toilet bowl, transforming its distinct lines and curves into a deconstructed sculpture. It could be a niche or a frame of sorts, with an ominous shape evolving from an inner vertical plane. Casting the same form in different materials and applying different glazes, Wang addresses matters of reproduction and uniqueness, of control and spontaneity. This leads to questions of individuality and freedom in relation to the models and opportunities society allows. Wang provides no answers. When Wang borrowed a copy of The Ceramic Process prior to his residency, he discovered the plemping method and was eager to apply it to his sculptural work while in residence. Using this not-so-often-employed method meant that recipes had to be (re)tested and that a significant amount of trial and error went into establishing the most desirable application method, wall thickness, and firing process for his series of medium-sized sculptures. Wang began by making a series of scale models and then, from these, selected the ones he wished to scale-up. He then built to-scale positives and cast two-part plaster moulds off of these. Once dry, Wang mixed his (first porcelain, and later, stoneware) plemp and swiftly applied it to the moulds in layers with his hands. After the mould were opened, the sculptures began their drying process. In residence, Wang built upon his glaze knowledge, looking for textures and colour palettes reminiscent of toilets and bathroom.