Ciane Xavier’s ceramic shift
Self-taught sculptor, painter, and multimedia artist Ciane Xavier has long integrated 3D technology into her creative process. Her surrealist photopolymer resin sculptures often depict women with distorted proportions, such as oversized feet or rabbit ears. Her interactive exhibits have consistently transported viewers to otherworldly realms.
In her latest exhibition, Xavier shifts from digital to analog, venturing into the realm of handcrafted and kiln-fired ceramics.
The resurgence of ceramics is more than a mere trend; it’s a reflection of our times. In a world saturated with sleek, often identical digital devices, ceramics offer something profoundly different: humanity.
While technological gadgets can be functional and even aesthetically pleasing, they often lack individuality. Mass-produced and devoid of personal history, they stand in stark contrast to ceramics, which celebrate imperfection. Each ceramic piece is unique, bearing the artist’s touch and carrying the story of its creation. This inherent humanity is what captivates.
This ceramic trend suggests a yearning for connection, a movement away from the cold, impersonal nature of technology and toward something warmer and more tangible. Ceramics offers a link to the handmade, a reminder of the human element in an increasingly digital world. It’s a return to authenticity, a celebration of artistry, and a connection to our shared humanity.
Giving the heart
Celebrating the love month of February, “Breaking to Mend” explores the paradoxical nature of relationships: Disruptions in connection or communication can become opportunities for repair. This theme contrasts sharply with Xavier’s previous exhibitions, which addressed her experiences with body shaming during her early modeling career and depicted a nonsensical world.
Xavier chose ceramic plates as a metaphor for the fragility of relationships, which must be handled with care. “Plates not only hold food,” she explains. “They carry stories, as they are shared over meals.”
The exhibit’s background music features a loop of plates breaking interspersed with a voice saying, “I gave you my heart, but you never wanted it.”
A symbolic vignette of reconciliation anchors the exhibit, depicting a woman offering her heart to a man as he receives it. These sculptures, rendered in photopolymer resin, a medium favored for its ability to capture silky surface finishes and precise details, stand amid a sea of broken plates.
The gallery walls are adorned with plates featuring glazed artworks that express Xavier’s views on love and technology in the 21st century. Inspired by her husband, friends, and faith, these pieces explore various thematic variations.
One plate depicts a couple holding hands while facing each other, both wearing virtual reality goggles. Another features a couple wearing rabbit ears—a signature motif in Xavier’s work—staring intently at a screen. Above them, a brain drips with red lines, symbolizing the constant influx of information. “They’re being brainwashed by the screen,” Xavier comments. “We are all brainwashed by what we read, watch, and by the people around us.”
A similar theme emerges in a plate showing a woman’s profile intersected by a computer implant in her brain. “It’s an upgrade of our consciousness,” the artist suggests.
Xavier also incorporates her signature images of nude women: a girl beneath a cluster of mushrooms evokes a state of hallucination; a woman bends under a shower; and another nude woman, painted upside down, appears blissful.
Epiphany
The artist also explores other forms of connection aside from romantic love. A couple is holding hands and kissing behind a network of mycelium. “These are basically the root structure of the mushroom. Like the couple, these roots are connected,” Xavier explains.
Similar plates echo this theme, showing a nude couple making out or gazing into each other’s eyes, emphasizing the intimate connection. While some plates focus on interpersonal relationships, others introduce the subject of a woman establishing a link with God, symbolized by a dove.
The morbid expressions that characterized faces in Xavier’s past exhibits have now given way to expressions of epiphany. “Well, for this show, everything has been shaking up by itself,” she says. “I have a close relationship with God; I’m a Christian. I’ve had visions and dreams. It’s something that happens when you’re on a spiritual journey. But when you’re on a journey, you tend to be alone,” she recalls, describing an experience of His presence during prayer. “I was sobbing then; I couldn’t control my body. This also is love, the love of the spirit.”
A ceramic painting of a woman staring at a screen seems suggestive of Xavier’s artistic journey. “All my works have the experience of looking at another dimension,” she reflects. “I started my work with the computer, then 3D printing and animations. But in ceramics, I use my hands. My work is very personal also. I think I’m in a mature, calmer stage now.”
The exhibit will run through March 2 at Galerie Stephanie, 6/F Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City.
