Tien Wen Art

Based in Chicago, IL, contemporary artist Michael Thompson creates unique kites, collages and mixed media works assembled from material fragments of past and present collected in his travels. In his ongoing series of memory jugs, Thompson adorns stoneware vessels with a kaleidoscope of ceramic shards, found objects, and pocket-sized trinkets he collected over the course of his life. Also known as forget-me-not jugs or spirit jars, memory jugs are African American folk art objects that honor a loved one who has recently passed. Small tokens and mementos of the deceased are gathered and affixed to the exterior of a jug or vase, an abundance of memories that celebrates a life lived to the fullest. Michael Thompson applies this tradition to his own practice, creating tactile assemblages of this and that. Formed in the manner of collage, each jug honors the lost memories of generations past and his own memories of personally discovering each item. With varied sources for materials including Kyoto, Turkey, and Mexico, a great number of the found shards are 18th and 19th century ceramics...

Based in Chicago, IL, contemporary artist Michael Thompson creates unique kites, collages and mixed media works assembled from material fragments of past and present collected in his travels. In his ongoing series of memory jugs, Thompson adorns stoneware vessels with a kaleidoscope of ceramic shards, found objects, and pocket-sized trinkets he collected over the course of his life. Also known as forget-me-not jugs or spirit jars, memory jugs are African American folk art objects that honor a loved one who has recently passed. Small tokens and mementos of the deceased are gathered and affixed to the exterior of a jug or vase, an abundance of memories that celebrates a life lived to the fullest. Michael Thompson applies this tradition to his own practice, creating tactile assemblages of this and that. Formed in the manner of collage, each jug honors the lost memories of generations past and his own memories of personally discovering each item. With varied sources for materials including Kyoto, Turkey, and Mexico, a great number of the found shards are 18th and 19th century ceramics...

Based in Chicago, IL, contemporary artist Michael Thompson creates unique kites, collages and mixed media works assembled from material fragments of past and present collected in his travels. In his ongoing series of memory jugs, Thompson adorns stoneware vessels with a kaleidoscope of ceramic shards, found objects, and pocket-sized trinkets he collected over the course of his life. Also known as forget-me-not jugs or spirit jars, memory jugs are African American folk art objects that honor a loved one who has recently passed. Small tokens and mementos of the deceased are gathered and affixed to the exterior of a jug or vase, an abundance of memories that celebrates a life lived to the fullest. Michael Thompson applies this tradition to his own practice, creating tactile assemblages of this and that. Formed in the manner of collage, each jug honors the lost memories of generations past and his own memories of personally discovering each item. With varied sources for materials including Kyoto, Turkey, and Mexico, a great number of the found shards are 18th and 19th century ceramics...

Untitled XXXXIX, by Charo Oquet Glazed Ceramic 10 H in x 6 H in. x 3.5 D in. 2019 These gravity-defying ceramics stacked constructions struggle to soar b...

Hand-built clay sculpture with white glaze and internal blue LED light. This sculpture can be wall mounted or displayed on a pedestal or table top.

Untitled XXVI, by Charo Oquet Glazed ceramic and enamel Overall size: 25 H in x 23 W in. x 1 D in. Set of 10 Glazed Ceramic Discs Individual size: 1. 7” x 5” x 1" 2. 5" x 5” x 1” 3...

Untitled XII, by Charo Oquet Glazed Ceramic Abstract Sculpture Vase 14 H in x 15 D in. 2018 These gravity-defying ceramics stacked constructions struggle to soar beyond the boundar...

White and Green, Expanded Metal Tile, 2019 From the series Expanded Metal Tiles Raku Burned Tiles Dimensions: 177 H X 88 W cm. Unique Mounted on Metal Unpacked: 50 kg Approx. Crated:...

Creation Myth, Hand made Ceramic Vase

Green twirls flowers, by Charo Oquet Glazed Ceramic Abstract Sculpture Vase 18” x 16” x 14” 2018 These gravity-defying ceramics stacked constructions struggle to soar beyond the boundaries of the spaces that contain them, often appearing to teeter in the brink of collapse. They are essentially diasporic, coming from various territorial and conceptual geographies that are the instruments of connection between today and the past and a new future. I try to create pieces where a process of mestizaje capable of arming dissident ways of live, intertwined with my family history. The colors, bright, chaotic, disruptive of a rich tropical load, bright light, universe of the Caribbean pallet, have archetypal symbols connected to the African heritage, visual party made plastic, symphonic permanence, with a transmission of joy, cheerful feelings that evoke directly the therapeutic action of planting, building and maintaining a garden, in this case, a permanent garden, which is mud in a state of crystallization (ceramics). ----------------------------------------------- Charo Oquet is a Miami-based artist that uses painting, installation, performance, photography, and film, among other media, to investigate issues of displacement, identity, migration, gender, or sociopolitical and cultural issues and to document and reflect on issues of de-colonial aesthesis and the role of contemporary culture in a global reality.Her work is a subjective observation by someone who is concerned with her surroundings and the culture she left behind. Her interdisciplinary work has been extensively exhibited internationally and has been well-reviewed by art critics and recognized by scholars in books and other publications. In addition to reviews in the Miami Herald, Atlantica Art Journal, African Arts, Art in America, Art Nexus, and Art New Zealand, among others, Antonio Zaya Publisher produced and distributed a book of her work, Charo Oquet – Lo Que Ve La Sirena (2002). Her work is also included in such books and catalogs as New Hoodoo - Art of a Forgotten Faith (2008), Files by Octavio Zaya, Miami Contemporary Artists New Zealand's National Museum Te Papa Calendar 2009, Dominican Contemporary Artists, and Supermix. Oquet has had numerous solo exhibitions in Museums and galleries around the world such as the Bass Museum, Miami Beach; Casal Solleric, Palma de Mallorca, Convento de Santo Domingo, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain ( curated by Antonio Zaya) and Oquet’s work has been included in numerous international exhibitions. Oquet’s work is in several museum collections such as the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL; CAAM, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Word Bank, Las Palmas de Gran Canarias...

Blue and Yellow, by Charo Oquet Glazed Ceramic Abstract Sculpture Vase 17” x 14” x19” 2018 These gravity-defying ceramics stacked constructions struggle to soar beyond the boundarie...

This series of sculptures is called Emotional States. It was created in 2023 in Kyiv (Ukraine). I lived and worked all year in my hometown in the middle of a Big war. I experienced a...