On one side, white porcelain — pure, crisp, clearly structured.
On the other, lacquer — layer upon layer, bearing the traces of wind, rain, and time.
One devoted to precision, the other attuned to nature —
at Ting Ting Art Space, the two stand side by side for the first time.
A Dialogue Between White Porcelain and Lacquer
Polarity Dialectics: Heinrich Wang and Cai Yi Xiu is a two-artist exhibition that places white porcelain in dialogue with lacquer. Curated by Hu Yi-Hsun, it runs from October 24 to December 31, 2026, at Ting Ting Art Space in Taipei. For the first time, Heinrich Wang's contemporary white porcelain is shown alongside Cai Yi Xiu's bodiless lacquer, and between these two very different ways of making, visitors can see how material becomes a language of thought.
White porcelain is clean, crisp, and strongly structured; lacquer is built up in layers, rich with texture and the marks of time. The first calls for exacting command of form; the second lets material take shape through climate, humidity, and time. Seemingly opposite, the two reflect each other throughout the gallery.
What Is "Polarity"?
Polarity is the thread curator Hu Yi-Hsun follows to read this exhibition. The idea comes from the German cultural historian Aby Warburg. Put simply, it describes two opposing forces that mirror and energize one another — order and nature, stillness and motion.
Hu describes the two poles through a pair of ideas from classical Chinese thought: Qian, the principle of Heaven, which stands for order, measure, and control; and Kun, the principle of Earth, which embraces spontaneity and change. Heinrich Wang's porcelain embodies order; Cai Yi Xiu's lacquer embodies nature. Because the difference is so clear, placing their works together creates a striking tension.
Heinrich Wang: Motion Gathered Into Stillness
"Form in motion, stillness within" describes works whose shapes are full of momentum while their inner order remains composed. The strength of Heinrich Wang's porcelain lies in his command of proportion, line, balance, and space.
That command comes from a deep understanding of porcelain clay. In the kiln, clay softens and shrinks, and the more a form cantilevers, turns, or widens toward the top, the harder it is to fire. To help tall, geometric works such as Enduring Peace, Ascendance, and Valiant Grace hold their structure in the kiln, a custom support is made for each piece from the same clay body. The support enters the kiln with the work and shrinks alongside it; after firing, it is broken away.
What visitors see is a complete work standing tall and proud; its journey through heat, gravity, and shrinkage lies hidden behind clean, angular lines. Rising forms and suspended structures seem to stretch, turn, or move into the wind, yet the whole remains steady and balanced.
From Valiant Grace and Ascendance to Dancing with the Wind, Heinrich Wang has looked beyond the soft, rounded grace of traditional white porcelain, using straight lines, sharp edges, solid and void, and structural tension to create a contemporary language for the medium.
Cai Yi Xiu: Material and Time as Co-Creators
Bodiless lacquer (tuotai) begins with an inner core. Layers of hemp cloth and natural lacquer are applied over it again and again — in Cai Yi Xiu's work, often more than twenty. Once the lacquer has cured and hardened, the core is dissolved in water or broken away, leaving a shell that is both light and remarkably strong.
Cai Yi Xiu works in the bodiless lacquer tradition rooted in Fujian. In Righteous Spirit of Heaven and Earth, Walking in the Mountains, and the Mountain Realm and Crackle series, lacquer is an active participant: its flow, drying, and contraction, together with shifts in temperature, humidity, and time, shape the color and texture of each work.
"Shaped by wind and rain" means allowing a work to pass through sun, air-drying, and moisture, taking form as nature changes. This freedom rests on a deep understanding of the material: knowing when to intervene, when to wait, and when to let the lacquer follow its own nature depends on years of experience and skill. Every chance effect in the work is backed by mastery.
Two Practices, One Hidden Common Ground
White porcelain and bodiless lacquer form a striking contrast, yet they share a making logic that usually stays out of sight: both require a support to be built first and removed at the end.
Heinrich Wang's porcelain relies on kiln supports to withstand heat and gravity; Cai Yi Xiu's bodiless lacquer relies on an inner core to carry its many layers. Once the work is complete, these once-essential structures quietly step away.
Visitors see porcelain standing tall and lacquer forms, light and whole. Behind each work lie intricate processes, long hours of waiting, and countless judgments made between artist and material.
Both artists know the temperament of their materials intimately. Heinrich Wang chooses to shape it; Cai Yi Xiu chooses to follow it. One builds order in fire, the other embraces change through wind and rain — and both carry their materials beyond their original limits.
From Object to Contemplation
Appreciating these works can begin with simply looking. Notice how lines extend, how weight is carried, what traces the surfaces hold, and how light changes your sense of form, and you will gradually enter each artist's world.
Once objects enter the gallery, visitors can set aside the question "What is it for?" and look instead at how each one handles weight, space, light, and time. Heinrich Wang's porcelain shows how order generates movement; Cai Yi Xiu's lacquer shows how change leaves form behind.
Control and nature can coexist. Precision can hold life, and spontaneity draws on long-cultivated skill. The meeting of porcelain and lacquer invites us to ask again: is creation about conquering material, or listening to it?
In this meeting of porcelain and lacquer,
we come to see:
whether shaping or following,
creation begins with listening to material.
Between form in motion and stillness held,
between wind, rain, and freedom,
traditional craft keeps growing
into an artistic language that answers to contemporary life and inner experience.
Three Paired Readings in the Gallery
The exhibition pairs the two artists' works so that porcelain and lacquer answer one another within the same space.
- Ground-floor entrance: Facing the lobby, the fireplace alcove features The Bloom of Life and Glory Across Directions.
-
Heinrich Wang, white porcelain, The Bloom of Life, Glory Across Directions
Cai Yi Xiu, bodiless lacquer, Azure Radiance- Second floor, "Boundless Landscapes": Heinrich Wang's The Mist on the Spring Lake and Harmony tea sets echo Cai Yi Xiu's Mountain Realm lacquer triptych, together evoking the spirit of mountains and waters.
- Second floor, "Illusion and Illumination": The 57.5 cm white porcelain Kuan Yin Awakened Compassion faces Cai Yi Xiu's Illusory Realm series of lacquer on porcelain tiles, deep as a starry sky, creating a quiet space for contemplation in warm, soft light.
Heinrich Wang, white porcelain, Awakened Compassion | Cai Yi Xiu, bodiless lacquer, Illusory Realm series- Second floor, "Silence and Crackle": Heinrich Wang's wind-borne, slanting Dancing with the Wind stands beside Cai Yi Xiu's sculptural Fuzhou Tiles series, completing the final pairing in the glow of dusk.
Heinrich Wang, white porcelain, Dancing with the Wind | Cai Yi Xiu, bodiless lacquer, Fuzhou Tiles seriesVisit Ting Ting Art Space in Tianmu before December 31 to experience the dialogue between porcelain and lacquer, and explore the stories behind Dancing with the Wind, Ascendance, and Valiant Grace on the NewChi website.
Exhibition Information
Exhibition Polarity Dialectics: Heinrich Wang and Cai Yi Xiu Artists Heinrich Wang (contemporary white porcelain), Cai Yi Xiu (contemporary bodiless lacquer) Curator Hu Yi-Hsun (art market scholar) Venue Ting Ting Art Space, No. 111, Tianmu East Road, Shilin District, Taipei Dates October 24 – December 31, 2026 Concurrent event ART TAIPEI 2026, October 30 – November 2
