ARTIST BIO

The Egg of Life

Life on Earth is made up of individual elements. These genetic ingredients spawn patterns and shapes that hatches into unique and distinct life forms. These forms unify under one key concept…they all began life as a single cell, the Egg of Life.

Aaron Lim’s work transcends the mundane and plunge the viewer into deeper philosophical realms of reality. It proclaims the multiple dimensions of existence…from the familiar physical, emotional, and intellectual, to the more obscure instinctive, social, and spiritual aspects.

The sensual nature of clay is moulded into forms of awakening. 

Handcrafted by artist from clay to glaze (glass) in Adelaide, South Australia

These egg sculptures and stands are totally handmade by Aaron. 

The clay is made from scratch with individual ingredients to make a slip, and then casted in a mould made also by the artist.

The glass effect on the sculpture, called glaze-on-glaze, has taken almost a decade of intense formulation (no commercial glazes used), and it is all fired to almost 1300° Celsius, a temperature much higher than that found in a bush fire (possibly around 1000 degrees).  At this temperature, the glazes \"dance\" together, creating its special effects, and form an inseparable union with the underlying clay. The failure rate has unfortunately been very high due too many factors in the art of  ceramics, over 90% of the fired works are defective to date. 

Due to the fastidious nature of this craft and the need to be meticulous in every stage of its progress, there are very few ceramic artists in the world who are pursuing the uncharted art of high-fired glaze-on-glaze ceramics.

The romance of ceramic arts, is that, it will endure the test of time. It will not decay or rust, there will only be weathering or breakage, hence ancient pottery is a key in archeological studies.

Why Egg?

Practically, the egg shape gives the most viewable area for the glaze-on-glaze effect.

Philosophically, the egg reminds us of the importance of our connection to life in this age of computers and tv\'s. I was asked, a couple of weeks ago (as I raised chickens), how does a roster fertilize a hens egg by a professional person...they thought that the fertilization process is similar to that of some male fishes that swim over a clutch of female eggs and were confused by the hard shell on the hen\'s egg. Another staff tittered and said that they went through in vitro fertilization and had no idea about the inner workings of life...

In this day and age of gardenless apartments and virtual reality, I hope that the symbol of the egg will remind us to question the role of the egg and its part in our lives and in nature, thus allowing us to connect with the \"real\" world and all its sensualities.