The Construction of Aesthetic Symbolic Systems in Contemporary Chinese Ceramic Art: An Interview-Based and Visual Analysis Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24191/idealogy.v11i2.951Abstract
This study addresses that gap through a two-strand qualitative design. The first strand comprises semi-structured interviews with three emerging Chinese ceramic artists who have practised continuously since 2010, examining their aesthetic frameworks, the cultural and historical origins of their symbolic vocabularies, their use of materials and technique. The second strand comprises a visual and formal analysis of representative works by four established Chinese ceramic artists, examining form, symbolic content, thematic concerns,technique. Findings show that each artist's symbolic system is deliberately constructed rather than incidental: emerging artists describe a conscious process of selecting, testing repeating visual motifs until they function as a recognisable personal language, while established artists' works demonstrate how inherited cultural symbols are re-worked through contemporary form and material choices. Cultural background, education and exposure to influential artists and exhibitions emerged as the primary shaping forces on symbolic content, while the use of new materials and technologies remains limited but is regarded by all participants as an area for future experimentation. The study offers an empirically grounded account of symbol formation in contemporary Chinese ceramic practice and proposes a qualitative framework, in place of numerical scoring, for comparing artists' aesthetic, symbolic and technical choices.
Keywords: Symbolic system, ceramic art, aesthetic framework, Chinese contemporary art.
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