Chinese Artist Pan Lusheng exhibits at Malaga

Art lovers from all over the Andalusia region visited Malaga's Museo de Vidrio y Cristal, the Glass and Crystal Museum, which showed fourteen extraordinary pieces by Chinese artist Pan Lusheng. For fans and collectors of such delicate and exquisite artworks the trip to Malaga confirmed once again that Pan Lusheng is a modern master of porcelain making.

These fourteen pieces had already wowed thousands of visitors at the Bienel in Venice, the National Fine Arts Academy of China, the National Academy of Italian Ceramics in Caltagirone, the Pierre Carding Foundation of Paris and the Petit Palais.

The porcelain vases are richly decorated with ink and were transferred to Malaga's museum with the support and collaboration of Shandong University of Arts and Design and the Italian Centre of Arts and Culture.

Fusion of traditional and contemporary Skills

In January 2014 the artist's exhibits appeared alongside Pablo Picasso at the China Art Museum in Shanghai in an attempt to establish an artistic dialogue between East and West, as well as promoting China's culture around the world.

The twelve porcelain artworks by Picasso were created some six decades ago and are naturally very different in style from Pan Lusheng's work, but the artist explained at the time that his work did show some commonalities with Picasso's pieces.

"Picasso and I are not so different. He started working with porcelain when he was 60, I started at 50. And we both did our work in small towns," Pan Lusheng said.

The owner and director of Malaga's Museo del Vidrio, Cristóbal González-Prieto, called Lusheng " a creator of modernity based on tradition" and used the example of a tree with deep roots to explain the creation of culture. A tree without deep roots dries up and dies.

"Lusheng uses the cultural rots of his country to create a contemporary and international work," Cristóbal González-Prieto added.

"He proposes new and brilliant concepts and works so that the three great elements of traditional Chinese art, (the technique with ink, ceramic and silk), are integrated into the spirit of modernity without ever losing their cultural root, thereby creating a type of contemporary art which possesses a completely Chinese style, and giving shape to an absolutely personal artistic language,” the museum's director explained.

Pan Lusheng studied Chinese popular art for a number of years, now combining his artistic output with teaching as a professor of design. He is also author of studies into traditional art movements of China.

At a price of around 200,000 Euros each, the fourteen pieces are not exactly available to the average collector. The vases are decorated with colourful Chinese landscapes, featuring gorges and mountains.

Uncovering the Secret of Chinese Alchemy

At the heart of Lusheng's work lies a thousand year-old porcelain technique that dates back to the seventh and eighth centuries and was discovered during the Shui dynasty (581 to 617). This Chinese recipe for mixing porcelain was further enhanced during the T'Ang dynasty (616 to 906).

The recipe for creating the complicated paste of kaolin, which is the basis of ceramics, quartz and feldspar, was strictly guarded by Chinese master porcelain makers. It wasn't until Marco Polo's return from his travels that Europe learned of these beautiful creations, but major importation of Chinese porcelain didn't occur until the 14th century, when Chinese porcelain became a much sought-after commodity and status symbol for the crowned heads of Europe.

Trying to find out what Chinese masters used to create such fine ceramics eluded European porcelain makers until the 17th century; uncovering the secret of porcelain making was the equivalent of discovering how to turn soil into gold, quite literally, as Europe's aristocrats paid huge prices for Chinese porcelain.

It wasn't until Saxony's potters discovered that adding kaolin to pottery transformed everyday pots into pieces of translucent porcelain that Europe was able to create its own ceramic masterpieces. The discovery turned Saxony into a major manufacturing base and Dresden became a major European exporter of porcelain for centuries.

Although the Pan Lusheng exhibition has ended in Malaga, the museum has more than 3,000 other artworks on display that are well worth a visit. Next time you come to Malaga on a day trip from Marbella, Benehavis or Calahonda, why not take the time to pop to this extraordinary museum at the Plazuela Santísimo Cristo de la Sangre, 2, which is opposite the main door of San Felipe Neri church?

The Museo del Vídrio y el Cristal de Málaga is open from 11 am to 7 pm from Tuesdays to Sundays.