Dish

Artist Comments

Ong Keng Sen
As we are asked to select our favorite pieces based on photographs, I am drawn to this white dish for its apparent simplicity. Simplicity is hard to achieve in expression and it takes a secure person to strive for simplicity. Looking at the photograph, I was drawn to the fact that it could be an everyday object that I use in my kitchen. The distance between art and daily life/design is not that much. Time immortalizes an object; often the everyday becomes reconsidered as art (it could be an everyday object of an emperor and then it takes on a different significance!) The catalogue tells me that there is under the glaze a decoration of two dragons. This makes it, of course, more than its apparent simplicity. I am also told that this is an example of eggshell porcelain which is much prized as it is very difficult to fire successfully. I am looking forward to seeing the thinness myself at the exhibition.