Fly Away Home：
FROOTS Jingdezhen

"I wanted to know what time the wild geese took off early in the morning, but what I found in the search was this film: Fly Away Home."
---Fu Kai'e, WeChat Moment

Since the previous year, Jingdezhen ceramic artist Huang Fei has been stranded in Canada due to a car accident. Last June, a painting posted by his wife, Fu Kai'e, who is also a ceramic artist, caught the attention of the  curators of FROOTS. It was a traditional Chinese painting sketch, with an adult intent but a child's brushwork. Fu Kai'e began to share the paintings created during Huang Fei's recovery from surgery. When he was still very unskilled with his hands, he made a sketch of a rectangular body and a jar. Was that a ceramic work taken out of the packing box, where thoughts of ceramics were consoled and paintings were made to show the joyful feeling？

Contemporary artists have long suggested that the (creative) process is the artwork. In the WeChat Moment to follow the continuous release of Huang Fei's paintings for more than a year, for the curators, is the appreciation of the creation process of a work of art. It is a multi-dimensional work. In the dimension of time, along with Huang Fei's day-to-day paintings and Fu Kai'e's photography, the curator's eyes are drawn to the Canadian sky, the lake and the treetops, which should be considered as also spatial dimensions - gradually, we step into the depths of the two artists' lives. This exhibition presents this work in the exhibition hall to share with more friends.

The myth that "man is made of clay" suggests that man and ceramics share a commonality. Originated from nature, both human and ceramics are becoming more and more distant from nature today, almost forgetting their roots. Huang Fei says, "Painting makes me happy and makes me forget the sadness of the car accident, especially when I am sketching in nature. Facing the flowers and plants over here, I can get very close to the birds in the wild. At the same time, their colors and sounds make me marvel at the creation of nature." How many of today's flower and bird painters have seen the birds they paint in person? Huang Fei's paintings are full of birds that cannot be named, all alive and interesting; he also captured the scene of a flock of finches chattering in the grass, the moment when a flock of geese landed on the water in turn ...... 
Stephen Graham, an English writer and traveler, wrote: “As you sit on the hillside, or lie prone under the trees of the forest, or sprawl wet-legged by a mountain stream, the great door, that does not look like a door, opens.”

We can also feel from Huang Fei's paintings that a doorway of nature has opened to him. Will this experience of living close to nature influence Huang Fei's future ceramic creations? We invited four international ceramic artists to discuss with Huang Fei the relationship between nature and the creation of contemporary art. These artists all discovered the treasure of ceramic art after a period of trekking and exploration on their life paths; and the particular paths each took led them to different portals to nature. 

Studio Noam Dover & Michal Cederbaum in this exhibition is located on the Mediterranean coast of Carmel, where the Phoenician culture  where glass originated, and the ancient culture of amphora meet. The glass works on display highlight the use of high technology as a tool for design (e.g. 3D printed ceramics) on the one hand, and on the other hand, the raw materials, the glass blowing process and the shape of the work are closely related to the natural and social environment, history and tradition in which the studio is located. By deliberately making the surface of the glass clearly show the texture of the special mold, the artist symbolically expresses that the artwork is a record. It reminds the viewer of the birth of the work and draws our attention to its origins.  On whether they can still find their way back home in the future, the attempt of Studio Noam Dover & Michal Cederbaum is an inspiration for ceramic artists in Jingdezhen, or craft artists in other fields.
（August 2021）


Continuing the Foreword

“Fly Away Home” is a travelling exhibition. The first stop will be in Shanghai in the summer of 2021, and this is the second stop.

Huang Fei is a Jingdezhen artist. Bringing an exhibition of his dialogue with international ceramicists to Jingdezhen is "Fly Away Home";

FROOTS is returning to Jingdezhen to set up an independent space after having left the "Taoxicuan" space;

German artist Claudia Biehne's works were created at the FROOTS Jingdezhen International Artist Residency. This time, Her works return to their birthplace, which is called "Fly Away Home";

Finally, during the preparations for the exhibition, Huang Fei made progress in his physical and mental recovery and began to rejoin his friends by posting his recent news and creations on social media, which is also can be called "Fly Away Home"!
(August 2023)


“本想知道大雁一早几点钟起飞的，结果搜索到的是这样一部影片Fly Away Home (《返家十万里》)”
— 符开娥，微信朋友圈

2020年初至今，景德镇陶瓷艺术家黄飞因车祸滞留加拿大。2020年6月，他同为陶瓷艺术家的妻子符开娥在朋友圈上发的一幅画吸引了FROOTS策展人的注意：那是一幅国画写生作品 “蒲草白鹭”，构图用意是成人的，笔触却是孩童的。之后，我们就开始跟踪她不断分享的黄飞手术后康复治疗中的绘画作品。

这些作品的特殊魅力在于它们所蕴含的生命能量。刚开始用手还很不熟练的时候，黄飞画过一幅素描，一个长方体和一个罐子。看似草草的线条，每一笔都显示着意志力。我们不禁猜想，那是从包装箱取出一件陶瓷作品，对陶瓷的思念得以慰及，作画以示欣喜之情吗？

艺术家们早已提出，（创作）过程即作品。关注符开娥分享黄飞绘画的一年多当中，对策展人来说，是在欣赏一件艺术作品的持续创作。这是一件多维度的、多侧面的作品。在时间维度上，它随着朋友圈上日复一日符开娥分享的自己的摄影和黄飞的画作而推进；在空间的维度上，策展人的视线被这些画作和摄影引向加拿大的天空、湖面和树梢 — 逐渐地，我们走进了两位艺术家生命与生活的深处...... 此次展览将这件作品再现于展厅当中，以期与更多朋友共享。

“人是用泥土做成” 的神话，暗示人和陶瓷具有共通性。源于自然的人类和陶瓷，今天都距离自然越来越远，几乎将自身的根遗忘了。黄飞说： “绘画让我快乐，让我忘记车祸带来的悲伤，尤其在自然中写生的时候; 在这边面对花草，能很近距离地靠近野外的鸟儿们。同时，它们的色彩、声音让我感叹自然的创造。” 今天的花鸟画家，有几位亲眼见过自己所画的鸟儿呢？黄飞的画里，有各种各样令人惊奇的鸟类，都活生生，很有趣；他也捕捉到一群雀儿草里叽喳唠嗑的场面，一队大雁激烈扇动翅膀、依次降落水面的瞬间……

英国作家、旅行家Stephen Graham 写道：“ 当你坐在山坡上，趴在林树下，或湿着腿、四脚朝天躺在山溪边，一扇巨大而无形的门会悄然敞开*”。从黄飞画里，我们也可感到，大自然的一扇门户朝他打开了。

在这次展览中，我们同时邀请了四位国际陶瓷艺术家和以色列艺术大师大卫·歌诗坦，来与黄飞共同讨论自然与艺术创作的关系。这几位艺术家都是在人生路上经过一段漫长跋涉之后，才发现陶瓷艺术这个宝藏，并都通过陶瓷抒发着对自然的亲近和热爱。

此外，我们也邀请了Noam Dover & Michal Cederbaum 玻璃工作室参展。该工作室坐落在地中海的卡尔迈尔海岸，是玻璃的起源腓尼基文化和古老的双耳尖底陶罐文化的交汇处。此次展出的作品，一方面突出用高科技作为工具，进行设计和模具研发制作（如3D打印陶瓷），另一方面，无论从原材料，玻璃吹制工艺和作品外形，都紧扣工作室所处的自然环境、社会环境、历史和传统。通过有意使玻璃表面清晰地展现模具的纹理，艺术家向征性地表达：该作品是一个记录，也提醒欣赏者关注该作品诞生的经过和源头。前行中不忘本源，是谓”归去来“！ Noam Dover & Michal Cederbaum工作室的尝试，对陶瓷艺术家们或是一个启迪。

2021年8月
FROOTS 植根花实画廊 上海幸福里


■ 续前言

“归去来” 为巡回展。第一站2021年夏季在上海举行，本次为第二站。

黄飞是景德镇艺术家。将他与国际陶瓷家的对话展带到景德镇，是谓“归去来”；

FROOTS 植根花实画廊在阔别 “陶溪川” 空间后，再回景德镇建立独立空间，是谓 “归去来” ；

德国艺术家克劳迪娅·比恩/Claudia Biehne作品创作在FROOTS景德镇国际艺术家驻地。这次回到出生地，是谓“归去来”；

最后，展览筹备期间，喜逢黄飞身体和精神康复有进展，并开始以自己发朋友圈的方式重新回到朋友们当中，是谓”归去来“也！

2023年8月