In the flowery porcelain world of Chinese sculptor Ma Jun’s New China Series (2005-2007), Qing dynasty-style chinaware is handcrafted, mass-produced, and comes in the shape of ‘80s era TVs, boom-boxes, radios, sports cars, Coca-Cola cans and Channel perfume bottles…

Ma’s pieces are delicate in medium, but substantial in format, with life-sized renditions of TVs and radios that have viewers looking and re-looking. For example, his work Television (2005) is created in a traditional blue and white and tinged with a cracklure effect in the glaze, “antiquing” the china. Instead of moving images on the TVs, Ma paints scenes of traditional mythologies and classical stories of what the artist calls “peace, happiness or beautiful wishes” or the “social ideals of ancient Chinese people.”