Out of Nowhere

Out of Nowhere is an evolving stoneware collection exploring the origin of organic forms with spontaneous hand-building process. From branch #1 to branch #8, this collection features eight sculptural objects interpreting the rationale of how tree branches grow. It is a biological catalog, a pure inquiry free from aesthetic interest.

Each piece appears to spring from the structural theme in nature, and yet it is not a poetic celebration of trees and flowers, nor an emulation of the real, but rather a search for the underlying principle between material and structure. The body of works is the result of tension, pressure, torsion, and bending forces, corresponding to the structural theme in nature. The living texture is laid by the intuitively unthinking hands, while the monochrome of the exterior is the attempt to remove the chromatic and conventional messages coming from glazes of much ceramic work.

In March 2022, Out of Nowhere was presented in collaboration with the florist opm and photographer Tsai Shi-Fan. Under the interpretation of a florist, these sculptural forms subsequently become vases that weave the natural and human-made. Captured by the intuitive aspect of Tsai’s images, the juxtaposition contrasted the hallucination of the nature with the existing one.

Photo: Tsai Shi Fan

〈Out of Nowhere 蕪〉以樹木的分枝型態為靈感，透過不同樹形與力學抗衡的觀察，探尋那些不知從何而來的形狀起源。系列陶土雕塑由分枝 #1 展開至分枝 #8，彼此突出、分離、交叉與融合，彷彿破土而生的自主有機體，重構自然形態的生長韻律。

民間文化的抒情從不乏樹木、花朵等詩意的頌揚，然〈Out of Nowhere 蕪〉並非對於可見自然的直接取用，而意欲尋找材料與結構兩者之間、內在邏輯依據的理型（即潛在原則）。一字排開的雕塑形式與其理解為陶藝作品，或許更接近於生物圖鑑、一種純粹的探究，無關造型上的世俗審美，僅是客觀地直面自然中具體生命的活態。

以手捏繞土條的方式成形，捏塑手法彰顯了雕塑過程的自發性質，同時應對著樹杈於結構的恆久主題，即張力、壓力、扭轉、剪力和彎曲等作用力下的結果；這些帶有獨立生命的物，脫離自然主義的聯想，繞過幾何原理和裝飾符號，單純地演繹事物存在之理。

〈Out of Nowhere 蕪〉開放少量訂製，依照 #1 至 #8 的分枝結構進行製作，每件擁有不同的肌理走向。