Belgian artist Ronny Delrue has made ceramic works with the theme of CCM：Center for Cloning and Manipulation, which are his new experimental creation since 2003. His works in the past were mainly drawings and paintings; however his change on the choice of materials is actually his continuation and development on the same theme.

In the past twenty years the images that Ronny has created are mainly about people. One of his artworks’ special characteristics lies in infusing various abstract thinking and perspectives of thinking in identifiable images. Thoughts on abstraction come from his strong demands on simplicity and purity, while simplicity and purity don’t mean synoptically dealing with images in a visual form; instead it’s sheer concentration of psychological experience.

In this exhibition audience witness a new result showing above-mentioned viewpoints presented by Ronny through his ceramics works Center for Cloning and Manipulation after creating a large number of drawings and paintings. A visual form that looks like a bomb but actually symbolically summarizes and presents human bodies: no heads and arms, two legs almost visible while the white colour of ceramics the material itself suggests the simplicity and purity. Two hundred pieces of human figure sculptures more or less remind the audience of Chinese terracotta warriors; the difference is that Ronny’s works diminishes characteristics and individuality of each figure using the form of cloning.

The exhibition site is Chinese European Art Centre in Xiamen, a southern Chinese city. Ronny as an artist in residence came to Xiamen to live and create his works, in the meantime gave a series of lectures about his artistic creation in Xiamen University Art College. His living and working experience in Xiamen naturally presents his feelings about everyday life in China through the way he displays his works. Above CEAC gate he hangs a cheap billboard that is often seen outside various shops in Chinese cities and two big red signs using “Collection 2009” this kind of advertising terms to express his ceramics figure sculptures. What are the differences between artistic creation and products cloning? Ronny uses a very special way “Centre for Cloning and Manipulation”, the concept through which he puts forward his further thinking and offers perspectives for the audience for dialogues between two different cultural backgrounds.

Qin Jian
Sept. 27, 2009

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