2023  Highlight

How do we feel nature? Through personal experience, written description or visual reproduction, these methods may allow people to perceive nature, but they may also only remain at the surface. In this solo exhibition "When I See Nature Breathe" by Lu Qiaozhi, the artist uses her special visual language to let the audience feel nature in different ways.

As soon as you enter the exhibition hall, you will see the oversized giant poppies and piles of fallen leaves on the floor. The faint fragrance of dead leaves in the air gives you a natural feeling for the beginning of this exhibition. A closer look at the three equally enlarged poppies shows the postures of budding, blooming, and withering, presented in a pure color of unglazed texture. From the beige surface of the work, you can see the granularity of the clay and the traces of hand-made, coupled with the giant flower texture, the viewing thoughts will not stay on the shape of the flower, but continue to extend from the visual to the physical senses, allowing viewers to feel a certain kind of scenery of life flowing. This series of works was created by Lu Qiaozhi when she was stationed at the European Ceramics Center in the Netherlands. Poppies, which can be seen everywhere on the roadsides of the Netherlands, became the protagonists of her creations.

While studying in the United States, Lu Qiaozhi switched from flat painting to pottery creation. She realized that the difference between pottery creation and painting is that she has to touch the clay directly, feel the temperature of the clay, the humidity of the air, and the texture of the soil. This experience made her connect with nature. Then she imagined the source of the soil. What period is this soil from? What events have happened on this soil? The soil in her hands should also carry many stories, right? From this we can find that she connects from her feelings about the soil, from nature to history and humanities. After this experience, she has been traveling to various countries and living in villages over the years to deeply experience the integration of local nature and humanity, explore the rhythm of the four seasons and the cycle of life, record her personal interpretation of the things around her, constantly raise questions about environmental and human issues, and explore the symbiotic relationship of all things.

On the second floor of the exhibition hall are the results of the artist's three-month residency at the Shuise Art Village. At first glance, the works look like silhouettes, but they are twisted in different postures, like restless vitality ready to burst out at any time. This series of works is the first attempt to use black soil as a creative medium, presenting the black luster of natural glaze of clay. In some works, you can also find felt-like shapes attached to branches, just like the Bidens pilosa commonly seen on the roadside in Taiwan, waiting to attach and reproduce at any time. This series of works is different from the realistic poppies on the first floor. Qiaozhi presents the vitality of nature in a semi-abstract way.

Throughout the exhibition, artists used different techniques to present different levels of “nature” and, through their experiences in different cultural backgrounds, constantly reminded us of the relationship between humans, the land, and nature.