In November 2023, Wasinburee held Unsinn im Sinn (or Nonsense in Mind), his first solo exhibition in Thailand since 2014. In an Instagram post, the artist describes the show as “like a small journal” that covered his beginnings and never-ending journey in ceramics. In the show, he expressed the full breadth of his art, exploring the very definition of the medium, with, for example, a gourd presented in its shattered form and a heart covered in blue spots and bleeding yellow blood. 

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Jon Pettyjohn has had a vital role in the revival of pottery in the Philippines. After studying ceramics in Barcelona, the Filipino American artist returned to the Philippines, where he explored clay, feldspar, quartz and volcanic ash in the creation of ceramics, stoneware and art pieces. At Pettyjohn Pottery, where he works with his wife Tessy, he also holds workshops that have produced more enthusiasts and ceramic artists.

Pettyjohn has exhibited around the world, with his most recent showing in Manila. For his 2023 exhibition Steps, he presented a series of high-fired stoneware and porcelain—plate-like sculptures featuring a variety of textures and materials, from painterly swirls to broken pieces embedded in the interior. Of pottery and art, the artist said to Tatler: “I feel a strong connection with the ancient potters and ceramic traditions. I have seen, touched and used pots hundreds of years old that moved and affected me as much as any painting or sculpture.”

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Drawing inspiration from nature, folk culture, Buddhism and Western modernism, sculptor Kuang Yu has developed a unique artistic voice that expresses elegance in a chaotic world. The Kaohsiung-born artist bends, folds and curves metal to create interplays of filled and empty spaces, resulting in hyper-articulated figures frozen in impossible scenes such as a bust with overlong fingers for hair or a perfectly formed flower rising from an amorphous metal clump. 

At the 2017 Venice Biennale, Lee achieved global renown with his Bullfighting series. Inspired by Ernest Hemingway, who previously lived in the exhibition space Palazzo Rota Ivancich, his sculptures of bullfighters and bulls locked in thier deadly dance showed the struggle between power and grace. The master’s works have also been exhibited in New York, Spain and Austria, as well as in public spaces such as Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay, where he presented 16 works among green spaces to explore the meaning of silence. 

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Tong Yang-Tze is recognised as one of Taiwan’s most important modern-day artists. The calligraphy artist breathes new life into the ancient art of Chinese script not just by expert craftsmanship but also by groundbreaking collaborations with video artists, jazz musicians, choreographers and fashion designers.

Known for large-scale works, Tong’s calligraphy has been shown at some of the most prestigious museums in Taiwan and abroad, including the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei and the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in New York, but also at public spaces such as the Kingstone Books Cultural Plaza and the Taipei Main Station, and in the arrival and departure stamps used by Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency. Her work has even been featured in a Chanel anniversary campaign. In 2021 Tong’s work, five monumental pieces featuring passages from the I-Ching, was unveiled at the M+ in Hong Kong.

Tong started learning calligraphy as a child, copying rubbings from ancient stone inscriptions. She was educated in fine arts at Taiwan Normal University, before pursuing further studies in oil painting and ceramics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. It was after her studies in the United States that she started taking a more experimental approach, infusing abstractionism and Western theories of painting with the traditional practice of Chinese calligraphy.

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Tatler Asia’s Most Influential is the definitive list of people shaping our world today. Asia’s Most Influential brings together the region's most innovative changemakers, industry titans and thought leaders who are driving positive impact in Asia and beyond. View the full list here.

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