Ich bin keine Vase by Jing Yang

Pendant

Award of the Gallery of Art in Legnica – solo exhibition with catalogue

I am not a vase.
That phrase has two meanings. One of them is I am not a vase, I am a decoration.
The second interpretation originates from my homeland.
The shape and the characteristics of the vase evoke associations with woman.
In China, a beautiful yet stupid woman is dubbed ‘a vase’ – gorgeous, but hollow.
My thematic collection “I am not a vase” boasts many semantic platforms.
Like jewellery, the vase is an object that teeters between being an utensil
and being a piece of art. What interests me in jewellery is the element of art.
Therefore, my vases have lost their functionality – they are cut through to circles,
and these circles have subsequently been threaded on a string; thus constituting a peculiar necklace.
Placed one on another, they resemble the shape of a vase again.
In that way a fragile and delicate structure emerges.
My vases may fall apart at any moment, which will alter their meaning again.
It is as though they wanted the spectator to acknowledge that
“I do not want to be a vase, I actually have something to say!”
It is also worthwhile to ponder upon the opposite meaning.
“I am a vase” means “I am beautiful.”