The Artistics online art gallery presents
Tien Wen
Power and depth
I'm Tien Wen.
I'm a sculptor.
I come from Taiwan
and I live in France
since almost 30 years.
I grew up in a rather literary family
but I think I have
a certain sensitivity.
I started learning to paint
and draw in high school.
Afterwards, I passed the exam
to enter the Taiwan art school.
I was young,
I wasn't committed.
Therefore, I said to myself
that it was time to see what's out there.
I chose France
because France has that image,
for Asians,
that country of art image.
I was quickly attracted to carving
and I chose clay
because for me,
other things are less creative,
at least clay is from A to Z.
It means that we have a lump of earth
and then we do everything
for it to become something.
For me, it is freedom.
Raku is a cooking technique from Japan.
Raku is short-lived in a way
and plays with fire
and allows for smoke
especially for me,
it's very colorful
with lots of effects
that look like bronze,
like metal actually.
We reach around 1,000 degrees,
we remove the oven
and the pieces.
At that time,
the pieces cool down very, very quickly
and then, the smoke can penetrate
the clay.
If it's too cold,
the clay closes itself
and as a result,
the smoke does not penetrate.
It's the smoke entering
the clay
and trapped by clay
which actually gives this black color.
From the beginning, I was interested
in shapes and lines,
not really the other side,
because clay is often linked
to craft.
But, the useful side is not interesting
at all for me.
In fact, I had decided at some point
to close all my pieces
looking like vases
because I didn't want people
to see it as something useful anymore.
I wanted the piece to exist
by shape and line
and I kind of impose 
my perception of things.
I play a lot with squares and circles,
often with squares that turn into circles
in fact,
and I also play a lot with equilibrium.
It's actually a fragile balance.
the work is minimalist
and the pieces are simple.
I love simple and pure things.
At the beginning, it's true
that I rotate a piece
then I break its shape.
I don't destroy it, I divert it.
Afterwards, often, I rotate
and distort a piece
until the line tells me:
"It's good".
In fact, I don't want 
the why and when analysis.
When I work,
my eyes guide me.
There can be a 0.5 mm difference.
I see, I see the line
when it's not identical.
Therefore, every time people tell me:
"What do you rely on?"
In fact, I don't know,
my eyes guide me,
and I actually know it's best there.
