Chenlu Hou meticulously shapes terracotta clay prepared entirely from scratch within her studio, employing slab-building techniques to construct multi-layered visual narratives. Her structural approach relies on cutting distinct profiles from rolled clay slabs and fusing them together, building intricate, freestanding forms that juxtapose dense structural stability with delicate, open-cut frameworks. The creative methodology deeply reflects her training in design and ceramics, using precise hand-building to freeze highly expressive figures, animals, and plant life into durable, interconnected physical monuments.
The stylistic hallmark of Hou’s practice lies in her deliberate merging of traditional cultural vocabularies with mundane, modern details. Her sculptures feature sharp, hyper-detailed ornamentation inspired by traditional Chinese folklore, temple ritual vessels, and paper-cutting practices. However, she actively breaks historical purity by introducing unexpected industrial materials, such as tying ornamental charms directly onto the fired terracotta using colorful, store-bought plastic zip ties. This intentional friction between the timelessness of clay and the cheap mass production of synthetic attachments critiques rigid ideas of heritage and highlights the humor found in mistranslation and adaptation.
Through vibrant surface treatments that combine hand-drawn detailing with smooth airbrushing, Hou addresses themes of displacement, memory, and personal narrative. By manipulating clay — a material that permanently records every physical scratch, pressure point, and creative accident — she transforms passing daily observations into lasting historical documentation. The resulting ceramic bodies function as complicated, humorous social commentaries, balancing playful, colorful exteriors with an underlying, shadowy complexity that refuses simple, romanticized interpretations of cultural folklore.
More info: Instagram.
in Bahia.