01.1516
Ga-u (charm box) 噶乌

Hongbo Xu 徐洪波

Artist Biography

Xu Hongbo was born in Jingdezhen city, Jiangxi Province, China in 1971. He works on contemporary ceramic art, experimental art and education. He is a member of the IAC (International Academy of Ceramics), and is a committee member of Ceramics Academy of Guangdong, China. He gained his Masters at the Fine Art School of Shanghai University and his Bachelor degree at Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute. Xu Hongbo is the head of the Ceramics Program at the Fine Art School of Zhaoqing University, Guangdong, an external professor of the Fine Art Academy of Guangzhou and the director of Shenzhen Noho Studio. He has been invited to create works in Europe and America as a visiting scholar and a resident artist.

His works have been exhibited in many important exhibitions domestically and internationally including the Korean International Ceramic Biennale; Earth, Fire and Life: Six Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramics” Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, U.S.A and Ahead of The Curve: New china from China, a touring exhibition in the UK (The Wilson, Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on Trent). Xu’s works have been collected by museums and collectors in China and overseas, including Fuping International Pottery Museum Group, Arum Gallery in Paris, Daich Gallery in the USA, Spencer Art Museum in Kansas and Zhejiang Contemporary Art Museum. Awards include First Absolute Prize “Ceramics in Love -2”, the 59th Ceramics Exhibition, Castellamonte, Italy, 2019; Silver prize ICMEA Emerging Artists Competition, 2007 and Silver Prize, The 8th National Ceramics Competition, 2006.

1971年，出生于江西景德镇市。联合国教科文组织国际陶艺学会（IAC）会员。广东高校陶艺学术委员会委员。深圳陶艺委员会委员。上海大学美术学院硕士。景德镇陶瓷学院学士。广东肇庆学院美术学院陶艺工作室负责人。广州美术学院特聘教师。深圳牛壶工作室创始人。访学和创作于欧美。作品经常参加国内外相关重要展览，多次获得中外大奖，国内外博物馆和私人收藏，国际拍卖行拍卖。

获奖：

2019 年意大利卡斯特拉蒙特第59届国际陶艺竞赛，首奖
2007年　国际陶艺杂志主编协会世界新锐陶艺家大赛，唯一银奖
2006年第八届全国陶瓷艺术与设计创新评比，银奖

收藏：

香港乐天陶社、浙江美术馆、富平国际陶艺博物馆、上海大学美术学院、景德镇陶瓷大学、景德镇陶溪川美术馆、巴黎ARUM画廊、美国DAIICH画廊、美国堪萨斯州SPENCER美术馆及中外私人

Artist Statement

As is well known, Huineng’s moment of epiphany came from his encounter with a line from a Buddhist script: “Abandoning desire for the worldly gives birth to the heart.” In his proverbial worldview, “The flag did not flap, nor did the wind blow; the turbulence/disturbance comes only from the human heart.” Anything and everything that happens in this world (from the recent terrorist attacks in Paris to the military tensions in the South China Sea) is caused by disturbances in the human heart.

The Heart Sutra is a classic Buddhist script centring on the heart, believed to be a revelation from the Guanshiyin Bodhisattva of the South Sea (incarnate of compassion and wisdom) to Sariputra, a disciple of the Buddha. Its Chinese translation from the Tang Dynasty contains only 260 characters. Central to the text is the concept that “form itself is emptiness,” and that all forms are born from the heart. An enlightening message from Zen Buddhism to the present world is for us to empty our life of our possessively egoistic heart, to open ourselves up to other authentic voices and hearts, to transcend false appearances of things and people, to see the world through the heart, and to let heart communicate directly with heart.

To begin with the heart means that we are not to be overly adhered to all the things outside of the heart, including the script of The Heart Sutra itself. In Chinese semantics, “经“（pronounced as “jing,” meaning sutra or script) also means “to pass through” or to “go through,” therefore, the Chinese title of this project is 心·经 (Heart·Sutra), with the two characters separated by an interpoint. The project does not purport to be exegetical of The Heart Sutra. Nor is it intended for promoting Buddhism. With the characters from the script hollowed out, leaving only their shapes, the bricks, together with the messages from all the community participants of this project, constitute a channel or passage for the heart, allowing us to see each other from the two ends of the passage, despite the distance or the tangible or intangible “walls” or obstacles in between.

Cor ad Cor Loquitur.

Xu Hongbo
in Madison, Wi,USA
2015/11/24
(Translated by Dr. Fu)

“应无所住生其心”是令慧能顿悟的一句经文。“非幡动，非风动，人之心动”，是慧能的世界观。世间万物万事（尤其最近的恐怖事件及中美南海对峙），无不由人之心动而发生之。《心经》即一部围绕“心”展开的佛家核心经典，据说是南海观世音菩萨（慈悲与智慧的化身）对弟子舍利子的开示。唐代译文仅260个汉字，其中心思想是色相为空（Form is emptiness), 万相皆由心生。在生活中空（放下超强的自我之心，倾听和接受非我的声音，这声音也应来自他者的内心）的妙用，及越过事物和人的的表象，穿透内心、核心看问题和由心对心的对话交流，是禅宗对我们现世世界的启示。

从心出发，一切心外之物可能都不是过份该执着的，包括《心经》的文本。“经”本来也具有“经过”、“穿过”的意思。所以该项目中文题目《心·经》（中间用间隔号分开），作品不是对心经的解释，也不是在推广佛教。经文（被抠出，空留其形）和每位参与制作者的文字（message）一起，构筑起“心经”的也或是“经心”的“隧道”（Channel）。两端可以对视相望，虽然可能有点远，可能中间还隔着无形有形的“墙”（幕）。心对心的对话。

Selected Buddhist Object from Chiddingstone Castle

01.1516 Ga-u (charm box)

  Ga-u (charm box), silver with gilt bronze and inlaid with turquoise and a ruby. The ga-u was a Mongolian charm or reliquary box that was used to enshrine Buddhist images. Tibet.

Height: 10cm, Length: 8cm

A small charm, for example an image of a Buddhist deity, could be kept inside this box and worn attached to the body with a silk cord. The charm would be visible through the central window. A charm box could also contain various other items such as sacred texts, medicines, or relics. It was worn to provide protection in daily life and whilst travelling. Charm boxes would particularly be carried on long journeys which would take the owner far from home.