HAN CHIAO
For sculptor Han Chiao, nothing beautiful is as easy as it seems. Working in black clay, the Paris-based artist’s ease for sensuality finds a primordial edge. The romance of a curve may be startled by sharp protrusions, symmetrical forms are tilted by surreal proportions, and subtly mottled, organic glazing is sharpened by her precision of line. This pulsing interplay of contradictions reveals truths, making abstract portraits of life itself.
Starting from a drawing of a shape or simply with a physical impulse, Han Chiao first spins a symmetrical form, leaving room for experimentation once the clay has slightly dried, when she then begins the process of deformation. Here, she slowly and intuitively reworks the pieces until they’re liberated from the façade of perfection. Honoring the texture of the earth she chooses to work with, the clay is left rough, marked with the gestures of her body and, occasionally her own fingerprints. Glazing, when employed, is done sparingly, in thin, dripping washes of white that evade artifice.
The honesty available through ceramics is what drew Han Chiao to the medium. A career fashion photographer working under her western name, Naomi Yang, she first put her hands on clay in 2017 and became a quick study. Her honed eye for shape, color, and composition found freedom in working alone, creating without the expectation of an audience. The practice, which she does daily and for as many hours as her schedule allows, is a conduit for revealing herself, a homecoming which invited her return to the name she was born with in Taiwan, Han Chiao.
Process
Works
Arch Shell
2023
BLACK STONEWARE
20"H X 17.75"W X 11.75"D
HANC25
Backbones
2023
BLACK STONEWARE WITH RUSTY GLAZE
17.25"H X 16"W X 8.75"D
HANC08
Bell
2023
BLACK STONEWARE WITH RUSTY GLAZE
9.5"H X 13.75"DIA
HANC21
Caress of Teeth Low Vessel
2022
BLACK STONEWARE
6"H x 17.5"W x 6.5"D
HANC03
Caress of Teeth Vessel
2021
BLACK STONEWARE WITH RUSTY GLAZE
15"H X 16.5"W X 11.75"D
HANC22
Deer
2022
BLACK STONEWARE
19.25"H X 9.75"W X 5.25"D
HANC06
Double Necks
2023
BLACK STONEWARE WITH VELVET MATTE INK GLAZE
20"H X 14.25"W X 14.25"D
HANC05
Dragon Fruit Series, Handful Vessel
2023
BLACK STONEWARE WITH RUSTY GLAZE
9.75"H X 5"DIA
HANC13
Dragon Fruit Series, Skinny Vessel
2023
BLACK STONEWARE WITH ASSAD BLACK GLAZE
19.75"H X 6.75"DIA
HANC14
Exhibitions
HAN CHIAO
SANS TITRE
MAY 2, 2024 - AUG 16, 2024
GUILD GALLERY NEW YORK
About the Show
Guild Gallery is pleased to present the first U.S. solo exhibition of Han Chiao (b. 1978, Taiwan), a Paris-based artist known for her work in sculpture. Originally trained as a fashion photographer, Han Chiao’s eye for composition and form translated with clarity in clay. While studying in Paris, France and Jingdezhen, China, she found her voice in angular and curvaceous vessels that are rife with contradictions. Sophisticated lines are often delivered with naïve textures, classical forms are reimagined in surreal proportions, and sensuality always has an edge.
HAN CHIAO'S “MONSTER IN WHITE COLLAR,” 2024, BLACK STONEWARE WITH RUSTY GLAZE
For this exhibition, Han Chiao is debuting more than 20 new works, including some of her largest pieces to date. Shifting from past explorations of colorful glazing and painterly tableware, Han Chiao has been focused on working with rough, black clay glazed in thin, transparent white washes. This unvarnished approach communicates her sensitivity for shape and complexity without a scrim of artifice. “I chose this rough clay on purpose. It’s untamed, something savage,” says Han Chiao.
HAN CHIAO FORMS HER VESSELS FROM ROUGH CLAY, LEFT COARSE TO HONOR THE TEXTURE OF THE EARTH SHE WORKS WITH.
“It’s very elemental: going back to an unpolished, unformed beginning of something, before we put layers on.”
– HAN CHIAO
From her Paris studio, Han Chiao begins her work with a drawing of a shape, or with a physical impulse as simple as pushing out or pulling up. She sets her hands into the black clay, throwing a symmetrical form on the wheel. Once the clay starts to dry, she begins her slow, intuitive trademark work of deconstruction, pressing her body into the vessels, distorting their proportions to create otherworldly dimensions, and giving her work “teeth” in the form of sharp protrusions until each piece is relieved from the expectations of perfection. The process of a single work can take months. “It’s very elemental: going back to an unpolished, unformed beginning of something, before we put layers on,” says Han Chiao. “With age, once you understand life a bit better, you realize that a lot of things are just façade.”
HAN CHIAO AT HER STUDIO IN PARIS.
Honoring the texture of the earth she works with, the clay is left coarse, marked by the imprint of her body and, occasionally, her own fingerprints. Glazing, when employed, is done sparingly, in thin, dripping washes. “Life is not perfect, it’s not so symmetrical. Each piece is supposed to have its own life. I want them to be quite emotionally alive.”
LEFT: FOR THIS EXHIBITION, HAN CHIAO IS EXPERIMENTING WITH SOME OF HER LARGEST PIECES TO DATE, SHAPING THEM INTO OTHERWORLDLY DIMENSIONS. RIGHT: A COLLECTION OF WORKS IN PROGRESS AT HAN CHIAO'S PARIS STUDIO.
Han Chiao is attracted to the resulting interplay of tension. She describes the impulse to top a romantic arc with the surprise of a spiked mouth as a gesture of honesty, something that allows her to reveal more of herself—making her artistic practice something of a homecoming.
HAN CHIAO MOLDS HER CLAY BY HAND ON THE WHEEL, THROWING A SYMMETRICAL FORM BEFORE GRADUALLY, GENTLY DISTORTING AND DECONSTRUCTING IT.
“I love combinations of contradictions in shape, curves, proportion, and texture. I like to challenge my pieces because something beautiful should never be easy.”
– HAN CHIAO