Artist Babs Haenen works with colored porcelain slabs and builds organic vessels with a dynamic inner choreography. complex works that are composed of various layers, creating colorful porcelain sculptures that refer to Chinese mountains and the ancient tradition of Scholar’s Rocks. This work hovers above the line of art and craft, drawing its power from both.
Scholar’s Rock is the most common English name given to the small, individual stones that have been appreciated by educated and artistic Chinese at least since the Song dynasty (960-1270). They evolved from appreciation of the larger garden rocks, but their smaller size enabled the Chinese literati to carry them indoors where they could be admired and meditated over in their sparse studios.
Scholar’s Rocks (or Gongshi) began as stones that resembled or represented mythological and famous mountains, or even whole mountain ranges in China. Some are also appreciated simply for their dramatic form, their wondrous colors, or feelings they evoke from the viewer. Some Chinese literati and Taoist monks wanted to bring these mountains into their studios for meditation and contemplation while they wrote or painted. So smaller stones with the same qualities were found and initially received as gifts. They gained great favor among the literati and the Imperial court and have remained popular for over 1,000 years.