Tong-Xindi is a ceramic artist based in Hangzhou. He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019, majoring in Ceramics, Photography, Art & Tech. He was invited to work as an artist-in-residence in Guldagergaard, Denmark in 2019, right after his graduation. Currently, he sets up his own studio in Hangzhou, and working as a studio ceramic artist.
Tong re-interprets Chinese Tang Dynasty Three-color glazes (san cai) in a contemporary perspective. He has developed a variety of glazes which can be digitally printed on ceramic tiles. He even invented his own glaze 3D printer in order to achieve a relative control on how the glaze can be painted onto a ceramic canvas.
He writes algorithms and teaches computer to generate patterns and paths for glaze 3D printing. It helps him to expand the possibility of glaze and ceramics by combining craft with computer technology.
His work demonstrates a coexistence of old and new, tradition and technology, order and disorder, controllability and uncontrollability, artificiality and naturality.
This dichotomy can be revealed from his parametrically ordered pattern with randomly cracked, fused or shaded glaze texture. Since glaze is a comparatively unpredictable material due to its fluidity and reactivity during firing, Tong Xindi uses algorithmic and computer controlling methods to perform a rational part in his work confronting the irrational nature of the material.
His work is collected by V&A in 2021.