'gradually then suddenly, vii and iii' glazed earthenware
Photo Credit
McLeavey Gallery is pleased to present gradually, then suddenly by Zhu Ohmu.
A contemporary artist born in Taiwan, Ohmu graduated from Elam School of Fine Art in Auckland and is currently the Artist in Residence for the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. Her work investigates the resurgence of the handmade and the ethics of slowness in an age of mass production and automation and delicately explores the conversation between nature, the artist’s hand and new technologies.
It was time in Paris last year that marked the start of an exciting new chapter in both Ohmu’s ceramics practice and personal journey. “Being immersed in a vibrant community of creatives, spanning disciplines such as painting, sculpture, furniture design, filmmaking, neon art as well as ceramics is eye-opening. Hallway conversations, shared lunches, studio visits, and exhibition openings encouraged me to think differently about my process and the possibilities of ceramics.”
This development cumulated in this stunning collection of works after a summer at home in Aotearoa. The exhibition unfolds through a series of hand-coiled ceramic vessels and a new body of small ceramic wall works.
The blues that colour both the vessels and the wall works draw inspiration from Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost, where blue becomes the colour of longing — “the colour of where you are not.” It is the blue that hovers in the distance between you and the horizon, a pigment of separation that recedes the closer you get.
For the artist - born in Taiwan, raised in New Zealand, and now based between Australia and Paris - blue embodies diaspora: the emotional haze between homelands, the tint of someone dear who is physically far away. The soft, powdery blue of the vessels makes them resemble clouds: atmospheric, fleeting, and just out of reach.
Echoing the artist’s new life in Paris - where connection with home often begins and endures through screens — the wall works speak to navigating distance from loved ones. Each ceramic tile is made from an impression of the artist’s phone, with the daily gestures of swiping, scrolling and texting recorded in the blue abstracted finger smudges. These works reflect the paradox of our digital age: where connection is flattened into a pane. We hold our phones, reach out with our fingers to be near, to care, to remain in touch.
Together, the works chart the emotional terrain of a diasporic life — the slow, subtle shifts of passing time and the sudden realisations of everybody growing older. These are the material remains of the artist’s attempts to shape longing into form.
Opening Hours
- Wednesday - Friday, 11am–5pm
- Saturday, 11am–3pm
Address
- 147 Cuba Street
- Te Aro
- Pōneke Wellington
McLeavey Gallery is pleased to present gradually, then suddenly by Zhu Ohmu.
A contemporary artist born in Taiwan, Ohmu graduated from Elam School of Fine Art in Auckland and is currently the Artist in Residence for the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. Her work investigates the resurgence of the handmade and the ethics of slowness in an age of mass production and automation and delicately explores the conversation between nature, the artist’s hand and new technologies.
It was time in Paris last year that marked the start of an exciting new chapter in both Ohmu’s ceramics practice and personal journey. “Being immersed in a vibrant community of creatives, spanning disciplines such as painting, sculpture, furniture design, filmmaking, neon art as well as ceramics is eye-opening. Hallway conversations, shared lunches, studio visits, and exhibition openings encouraged me to think differently about my process and the possibilities of ceramics.”
This development cumulated in this stunning collection of works after a summer at home in Aotearoa. The exhibition unfolds through a series of hand-coiled ceramic vessels and a new body of small ceramic wall works.
The blues that colour both the vessels and the wall works draw inspiration from Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost, where blue becomes the colour of longing — “the colour of where you are not.” It is the blue that hovers in the distance between you and the horizon, a pigment of separation that recedes the closer you get.
For the artist - born in Taiwan, raised in New Zealand, and now based between Australia and Paris - blue embodies diaspora: the emotional haze between homelands, the tint of someone dear who is physically far away. The soft, powdery blue of the vessels makes them resemble clouds: atmospheric, fleeting, and just out of reach.
Echoing the artist’s new life in Paris - where connection with home often begins and endures through screens — the wall works speak to navigating distance from loved ones. Each ceramic tile is made from an impression of the artist’s phone, with the daily gestures of swiping, scrolling and texting recorded in the blue abstracted finger smudges. These works reflect the paradox of our digital age: where connection is flattened into a pane. We hold our phones, reach out with our fingers to be near, to care, to remain in touch.
Together, the works chart the emotional terrain of a diasporic life — the slow, subtle shifts of passing time and the sudden realisations of everybody growing older. These are the material remains of the artist’s attempts to shape longing into form.
