• Title:  Ceramic Drawing 2023 Taipei
• Art and Project: Juan Carlos Olabe y Xabier Basogain - JC&X
• Collaborators: (see list below)
• Technique:  Ceramic Sublimation
• Size: 244 cm x 122 cm 
• Date: December 2023
• Place: Engineering School of Vitoria-Gasteiz

"Ceramic Drawing 2023.Taipei" is a mosaic created with the sublimation technique. It is an exploration of the human visual system and its most basic elements, visual cognitive primitives: how we perceive colors. From the colors perceived by the primitives, the mind structures this information in a hierarchical way and we are able to recognize superior elements, an image of the world around us. This mental process is fed by perceived colors, but uses many other forms of information from our memory. This combination of colors and hierarchical organization of colors is what we call visual experience. In this work, as in Ceramic Drawing 2023.Calais, the language of the work specifies the colors that the visual system will perceive: each polygon of the work contains a unique solid color. On the one hand, the regular geometric structure of each tile takes its inspiration from the tradition of Islamic art. On the other hand, this language of Islamic art with solid geometric colors establishes a representational objective of Roman ceramic art. The objective is to represent the world around us. The four elements studied in this work of art are: transparency through non-transparent polygons, light sources and their dissemination in space, the depth of three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional mosaic, and the representation of shapes of the nature through polygons.

This work is complemented in the same physical place with the work Ceramic Drawing 2023.Warsaw and Ceramic Drawing 2023.Prague

Description of the video

This artwork merges these traditions. While the color variations channeled the Roman style's objective representation, the consistent geometric pattern echoed the abstraction and symmetry inherent to Islamic mosaics. This blend presented a novel visual narrative, showcasing how different artistic paradigms can harmoniously coexist, and in doing so, offer enriched, layered visual experiences. The visual experience and interpretation of the observer rests primarily in the color variance within the tiles, conveying the essence of buildings, sea, and sky. The blend of Roman and Islamic mosaic traditions produced a unique aesthetic experience, highlighting how the brain fills gaps and processes combined visual cues.