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Anxious Thoughts and Dreams Occupy the Minds of Johnson Tsang’s Porcelain Figures

Through contorted figures, Johnson Tsang continues to stretch the limits of human consciousness as he blurs the boundary between the real and surreal. The Hong Kong-based artist has spent decades sculpting works in ceramic and steel that explore the liminal and invisible, making thoughts and emotions tangible through minimal forms in white porcelain. Vacillating between the calming and disconcerting, Tsang's works convey many of the relatable anxieties and coping mechanisms that occupy the contemporary mind. The artist's Lucid…

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Shantell Martin On the Power of a Single Line and Why Positivity Is Her Biggest Inspiration

Shantell Martin has been exploring the magic in a single line since childhood, and it's that seemingly minimal marking that defines her practice still today. She works primarily in black-and-white, inscribing walls, canvases, and other objects with abstracted faces and affirmational text. Inviting, accessible, and universally relevant, her monochromatic drawings are prompts for the viewer: Who are you? Are you you? She continually asks for introspection, for better articulating our positions in the world, and for questioning the structures around us, a practice she mirrors in her own life and work. An artist, philosopher, designer, and wholly creative person, Martin…

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Interview: Artist Shantell Martin Discusses the Power of a Single Line and Why Positivity Is Her Biggest Inspiration

Shantell Martin has been exploring the magic in a single line since childhood, working primarily in black-and-white to inscribe walls, canvases, and other objects with abstracted faces and affirmational text. In a new interview supported by Colossal Members, managing editor Grace Ebert spoke with Martin about the vast potential of that seemingly minimal form, the joy and fun of collaborating for the sake of collaborating, and her unwavering approach to positive thinking. I’ve been on this journey, trying to make a recognizable line. What if…

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Art

Stretched and Contorted Porcelain Face Sculptures by Johnson Tsang

Stretching the properties of porcelain clay to the max, artist Johnson Tsang (previously) contorts the faces of his anonymous sculptures into rubber. The comical works morph facial features and body parts, at times cramming the identities of multiple persons into a single being. These new pieces from his "Lucid Dreams" series were recently on view at the Hong Kong Sculpture Biennial as part of Art Asia 2016. You can see the rest of them here.  

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Dream Worlds Imagined in Contorted Clay Portraits by Johnson Tsang

Johnson Tsang (previously) continues to create spectacularly emotive ceramic sculptures of the human face. The Hong Kong-based artist's latest series, Lucid Dream II, features surreal contortions that squish, wring, melt, and stretch. Titles like "Remembrance," "Extrication," and "Unveiled" suggest an exploration of the liminal space between the conscious and subconscious, in addition to the self and other. Tsang uses plain, unglazed clay, eschewing typical lifelike details such as color, hair, and apparel, to focus the viewer's attention on the universally-relatable expressions of each of his imagined subjects. You can see more of the sculptor's completed and…

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Open Mind: New Warped Face Sculptures by Johnson Tsang

Sculptor Johnson Tsang (previously) continues to push realism's boundaries in his sculptures of faces that are stretched and opened up in surreal ways. In his latest series, Open Mind, Tsang incorporates hand gestures and metaphorical materials like growing leaves and rippling water to convey a sense of open-mindedness in his sculptures. The artist shares with Colossal that he has always been creative, but due to an impoverished upbringing and poor grades in school, he initially focused on trade work, including as an air conditioning assistant and a potato chip fryer. Tsang first took a clay modeling class in 1991, during…

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