Presentation of the 8m Tall Porcelain Vase by Alim Pasht-Khan in Leuchtenburg (Germany)
20.03.2015 -
On March 20, 2015 in the Leuchtenburg Museum there was a presentation of the unique artwork – 8m tall porcelain vase created by the Russian artist Alim Pasht-Khan. The vase consists of 360 porcelain pieces produced at the Reichenbach Prozellanmanufactur.
The artwork is a technological breakthrough in porcelain manufacture, its every piece has a weight of almost 4 kg, the walls’ thickness is 6 mm, the bottom’s – 12 mm. All the pieces have been heated in the kiln at the temperature of 1380 degrees for 12 hours. It took about a year to have the idea realized. The majority of porcelain elements were hand painted by the artist.
“I want to tell the history of life and nature. When the vase is assembled and installed, its painting will feature the entire picture of the origin and development of life on Earth” – explains Alim Pasht-Khan. The artist has been working with porcelain for more than 10 years and describes this material as “delicate, fragile and freakish”. But it is these qualities of the porcelain that urge him for experiments, searches of new plastic and figurative possibilities.
Alim Pasht-Khan studied painting and graphic art at the Krasnoyarsk State Art Institute in 1989-1994 and later upgraded his skills in the creative workshop of the Russian Academy of Arts. He belongs to the family of artists: his father German Pashtov is a Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts. In 1999 Alim Pasht-Khan went to Germany where he graduated from the Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle having majored in sculpture (1999-2002) and media-art (2004-2006). Since 2007 Alim Pasht-Khan has been living and working as a freelance in Halle (Saale).
The multi-sided artist is a holder of various prizes including grants from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Heinrich Boel Foundation. His works have been displayed at many group and solo exhibitions and were awarded the First Prize in Sculpture in the competition in Koethen (Anhalt, Germany, 2001), the Jury’s Prize of the International Media-Art Festival in Dresden (Germany, 2001), the 2nd Prize at the competition in Gera (Germany, 2004), Silver Prize of the World Ceramics Biennale in South Korea (2011), Golden Medal of the Russian Academy of Arts (2014).
Alim Pash-Khan’s works are in collections of the Stuttgart State Gallery (Germany), Russian Academy of Arts and Municipal Divnogorsk Museum (Russia), Museum of Sachsen-Anhalt (Germany), Ostrobothnian Museum (Vaasa, Finland), Museum of Porcelain Manufacture Kala and International Ceramic Exhibition Foundation in Icheon (South Korea).