Stevens Vaughn
Stevens Vaughn is a ritualistic water painter who uses pigments to document the language of water. His exhibitions "Calligraphy of water" and "Water is a color" are influenced by his study and training in the philosophy of the how important imperfection is to the state of perfection in Japan and China. Famous Art Pieces. Art pieces and Permanent Installations. Vaughn is often quoted “ The art which I construct in collaboration with others or personally, is a result of the lived experience”. His sculptural background has transformed into a multidimensional interpretation of the Painting medium, with traditional Chinese Ink  Water technique in philosophical coherence with the 12th century Japanese and Chinese movement “逸品 /Yi Pin”. The 逸品 movement enhance the playful aspect of art being performative and spontaneous in their artistic expression. The later Japanese Gutai movement also drew on the philosophy of the movement. Vaughn's style of performative action painting and the collaboration with the Fluxus movement in Xiamen, China, position his art in relation to Western artists also working within the scope of Asian philosophy and conceptualism, such as John Cage, Bjorn Roth, Colette Hosmer, and Joseph Beuys whose sculptural ideas of Eurasia, was the utopian  dream of Europe and Asian cultural merge. The diverse art of Vaughn is not restricted by medium, and one of his most famous pieces are the interpretation of the GuanYin Buddha, which Stevens depicted in a red star uniform and titled Pansexual Buddha. The historical dispute concerning the Guanyin Buddha and sexuality in China is a cultural and historical sensitive subject, related to the debate on Queer identities and rights in China. Vaughn's recent art installation “You are the center of your world” presented at the Ch.ACO Artfair 2020, is a contemporary comment on the situation of assuming  power and responsibility, emancipated by the emperor of Ancient China's symbol of status and divine power, the Dragon Throne . The throne was first exhibited in The Curitiba Bienal in Brazil 2018, where over 50.000 visitors sat in the Throne.  Vaughn's performative paintings serve as permanent installations in museums around the world latest as he performed at the inauguration ceremony for ART LAB museum at Chongqing, China. His series Primordial and Baptism of Color are featured in exhibitions in Iceland, London, Congo, Argentina, Denmark and the National Gallery in Sofia Bulgaria. Early life and education. Stevens Vaughn Stevens Vaughn  is a conceptual ritualistic artist, who has spent the majority of his life in Asia. In 1978 he was from a Cattle farm in Minnesota US, sent by the Peacecorps to the Philippines, to work with tropical agriculture. This step lead him into a life long relationship with Asian Art, history and mythology. Vaughn established a career as designer and sculptor in Asia and other parts of the world, opening studios in Japan, China, Taiwan, Sri-Lanka and Mexico. During his 9 years based in Japan he was influenced by “MA- Space” and Shibui aesthetics. The philosophy of simple, rough  effortless imperfection as it relates to perfection, in a non-dualist construct of the world. His art creates discussion and controversy as he combines traditional medias and techniques with ideas of societal engagement. He has sculpted Buddha heads in red star uniforms with traditional 景德镇(Jing De Zhen) porcelain, and established theoretical parallels to fluid gender theory and ancient mythology. His artistic approach can be described, referring to the idea of “Playfulness” in context of the 900 century Northern Song and Tang dynasty artistic construct called 逸品 (Yi Pin). Yi Pin 逸品 is a holistic Daoist art philosophy with spontaneous and  performative painting style. He creates in his studios in Xiamen, Dehua (China), and Valparaiso, (Chile). During Stevens years in Asia and Scandinavia, he was deeply influenced by the Gutai construct and the fluxus ideas of spontaneity and collaborative experimentation, and in 2006 at Gulangyu, China, he was appointed a professor in the Diether Roth academy. In addition to his own art he works collaboratively on production techniques, most noticeably the 14 year long collaboration with artist Bjorn Norgaard (Denmark) as advisor for the crystal sarcophagus for Her Majesty Magrethe the 2nd, Queen of Denmark and his Royal Highness The Prince  Consort. Stevens Vaughn's permanent performative paintings are on display at the Chongqing LAB art museum where he performed at the inauguration, in Shanghai at the Ke Art museum and at MAAM in Rome. He has held solo exhibitions in Buenos Aires, Valparaiso, Curitiba, London, Berlin, Brazzaville, Bulgaria, Sofia at the national art museum, Miami, Rome and Shanghai. He holds an adjunct professorship at the Ceramic Institute of Dehua and has lectured in the Central Academy of Art Beijing. His art is often referred to as “a calligraphy of water, with the paintings being the relics of his performance.”. Career . In 1984, Vaughn set up a glass sculpture and blowing studio in Hsinchu, Taiwan and designed media for US retailers including Neimen Marcus, Bloomingdales and Gumps during which he designed products in Limoges, France and glass on the island of Murano, Italy. In 1988, he was hired as Vice President of Fitz and Floyd and was sent to Japan to learn sculpture and painting. It was here that he began training on how "imperfection is essential to creating a state of perfection". During this time he developed ceramic and porcelain studios in Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, China and in 1991 he  spent one year in Cuernevaca, Mexico, developing a porcelain studio based on what he learned in Asia. In 1992, he returned and moved to Sri Lanka and China, in addition to residences in Japan. In 1996, he moved to the island of Xiamen, China where he played a major role in the development of porcelain art in the cities of Chaozhou and Dehua, where he was given an honorary professorship in the Ceramic Institute in addition to lecturing in the Central Academy of Art Beijing. During this time he became more involved in the development of contemporary art sculpture in  crystal and porcelain, collaborating with artist Bjorn Norgaard (Denmark) as a technical adviser for the crystal sarcophagus of Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark and his Royal Highness The Prince Consort. His methods of painting have been reported to use ritual "dripping" techniques that don't pull out the color randomly, rather distribute pigments dropwise. The technique uses instability of the fluid to create figures and the splash of the droplets to further enhance the painting.