Letter from Isabel: Ode to the Lotus by Spencer Fung
True talent develops, grows and refines and when I visited the studio of Spencer Fung, the artist whose show is opening this week upstairs at Connolly, I realised this is perfectly reflected in his environment, the office studio that he designed and shares with his wife Teresa. It was filled with lotus leaf like ceramics floating on a simple elegant wooden work table, surrounded by his paintings and objets that make up his creative vision. I first met and had the pleasure of working with Spencer over thirty years ago - as an architect and furniture designer for our apartment and shops in London… twenty years later I showed his beautiful ink and earth inspired art at Connolly, 'My abstract Landscape' and next week I open the year with his incredible ceramics. He is still an architect, still a furniture designer, still a painter but he is now also a ceramic artist, bringing the same delicacy, purity and strength to each discipline and it takes my breath away.
His show, 'Ode to the Lotus, a journey from muddy waters to the celestial', is inspired by one of the greatest Chinese philosophers, Zhou Dunyi, and particularly, his 'Ode to the Lotus'. For Spencer it embodies exactly what he was trying to communicate with his ceramics in our turbulent times. Stay upright and reach for the heavenly purity.
Zhou Dunyi (1017–1073 A.D.)
But I love the lotus alone, which came out of the mud without being tainted,
Rinsed in the water, it’s beautiful without being seductive.
The straight stem is hollow inside,
Growing without any branches or vines.
Its clean fragrance floating far and wide
Standing there perfectly upright and clean,
We can only admire it from afar, instead of fondling it with our hands.'These delicate, lotus leaf-like organic forms emerged from humble beginnings with a block of mineral clay that I played with one afternoon at home' explained Spencer, 'I felt an urgency, as if on a journey, and I found an uncontrollable force springing from my hands. From this intuitive creation came expressions of botanic forms. I discovered and learnt about the material, experimenting with its limitations and pushing its potential.'
The following summer whilst staying in Catalonia's Empordà - a hub of ceramic making, he set out to find a maker but soon realised he needed to be expressing these forms in porcelain to achieve the fineness he was looking for. Under the tutelage of two master craftsmen, he learned how to prepare, handle, mould, shape and repair the slippery clay to create what we are showing today, vessels unlike any others.
'It was a humbling experience involving many factors, forcing me to slow down and respect the material. I was engulfed by the process - it took many hours, there were false starts, failures and upsets. I needed faith in the 'kiln gods', and a lot of patience. Working on these emerging shapes, it reminded me of the power of the lotus leaves growing strong and straight from the muddy pond water. Uplifting amid troubled times. The forms express the movement of petals and leaves. The hammered effect, which gives beautiful texture, allowed me to go thinner than I would have otherwise dared. The pristine iridescent white glaze lends the vessels a pure, celestial, magical feel, like the moment the first snowfall transforms a winter landscape.
The serendipitous association between shapes emerging from my fingers and the lotus leaf took me back to my childhood. I remember reciting a poem from the Sung Dynasty, in which the author celebrates the lotus rising unstained from muddy waters, becoming a symbol of hope, strength and purity. This resonated profoundly.
This experience was new for me. Unlike architecture or painting, I found myself at the mercy of my materials. The finished pieces bring me extraordinary joy and elation.'
And as an observer these shapes bring the same reaction in me and I hope in everyone who passes through the gallery over the next few months…- Isabel Ettedgui
Spencer Fung, Architect and Artist's BiographySpencer's art flows from his love of nature. His recent journey into ceramics is an extension of his love of natural materials and experimentation. Forms emerge and evolve from his hands as he reflects on life and regenerative cycles. Resilience, strength and hope for the future is a recurring theme across the different mediums he works in. Always resourceful, he paints using natural pigments mixed by himself from the land. He takes inspiration from the landscape around him, from trees to mountains, rocks, lochs, clouds, leaves, seeds, roots and lichen. His paintings are abstract and expressive as he searches for bold, emotive statements. As an architect, he specialises in creative, natural finishes crafted to his design by specialists.He thinks and expresses himself through drawing. Painting develops the tactile qualities in his architecture, and his architectural training brings spatial awareness and discipline to his art.
Working in porcelain has challenged Spencer in a new way. It's been a labour of love and discovery from which beautiful vessels have emerged, echoing the purity, strength and renewal attributes of the revered lotus plant.
