Ryze (Zewei) Xu (He/Him), born in 1997 in Datong, China, is a ceramicist and multimedia artist. He received his BFA in Ceramics from Maryland Institute College of Art and obtained his MFA in Ceramics from the University of Colorado Boulder. His work spans sculpture, painting, video, collage, and digital media, examining the interplay between material transformations and personal/collective histories through the lens of ceramics as a process that is both alchemical and human.
Forged through an instinct-driven, yet architectually calculated process that merges elemental dichotomies of organic and artificial, entropy and structure, growth and decay, Xu’s work embraces clay’s inherent volatility – explosions, warping, and fragmentation become essential collaborators rather than adversaries. His sculptures materialize as layered archives of rupture and repair, combining ceramic shards with steel, paper, and combustible materials that memorialize their own making – a process mirroring his experience as an immigrant navigating between cultural identities, where disintegration becomes a generative act of rebuilding.
Headshot credit: Anthony Park Kascak (@anthonykascak_)
Image: Ryze Xu, 夜の船 (Night Sail), 2024 Winter, Ceramics, oil on wood panel, wood, linen, steel, epoxy, 14.5″ x 16.5″ x 16″