what's the technique of his?
how it could be revered worldwide?
OK -- You could have googled the name, but since you guys keep asking... In Taiwan, and also on the mainland,
Ah Leon established his reputation among the lovers of
"gong-fu cha" or
the mastery and enjoyment ot tea for his exquisite little ceramic teapots influenced by the Yixing style ...but with inovations of his own. If you are lucky, you may be able to buy one of his small teapots for as little as $4,000 US dollars, although they often sell for much more. He has not been making any of these for a few years now. His current work focuses on larger, sculptural teapots in a trump l'oeil style that look like old tree stumps with peeling bark and protruding branches that double as handles and spouts. He is also renowned here in the States for his large scale trump l'oeil installations of ceramic sculpture that perfectly mimic objects of ancient, weathered wood, such as his sixty foot long work
Bridge ('95) and current piece,
Memories of Elementary School on display at the Phoenix Art Museum this week
.
As a sculptor and potter myself, I've long been intrigued by the physical and spiritual parallels between Art and the Martial Arts. I have an old video of Taiwanese folk pottery masters called
The Potters of Shuai-li. I was amazed at how much the movement and body language of the old master-potter in the video reminded me of my own Chinese Wing Tsun sifu. Now, many years later, I encountered the same parallel in observing this Taiwanese artist Ah Leon demonstrating
his ceramic arts and discussing the "gong-fu" of tea. As I said before, I find that the experience inspired me to work harder, both at my art and at my martial training!
