The power of nature and the delicacy of porcelain: Patrick Bergsma “exploded” vases

At Il Mio Salotto we have the honour to speak with a great artist, Patrick Bergsma (patrickbergsma.nl), who expresses his love for nature, porcelain art, Dutch and Eastern cultures, all in one shot, with his amazing series of broken vases.

Hi Patrik, thanks so much for accepting our interview. Would you please introduce yourself? Who are you, and how and when did you go in touch with art?

My name is Patrick Bergsma, I am an artist from Holland. I grew up in the countryside where my parents ran an antique shop. Growing up surrounded by art and antique definitely shaped my interest in art. We sometimes used the shop as a living room when my parents redecorated the house. Another early inspiration was my grandfather who was a collector of porcelain figurines by Meissen and Capodimonte.

Your works with broken vases are really impressive, when did you start with these? What was the inspiration?

The work with broken vases was a result of all the work I did before. I was working on the Beautiful Decay series which was about our relationship with nature. No matter what mess we make, nature seems to always find a way to adapt and make this world a great place to be alive.

In order to make this unstoppable force of nature stand out more, I was looking for a contrast. So I merged it with my former interest, the shiny surface of porcelain once called "the white gold". These recent sculptures are the result.

The first thing that comes to my mind looking at your works is the power of nature, which overcomes the human constructions that want to restrict her. Reminds me of a building's certain picture of abandoned streets or buildings, that get covered by plants after years. Is this a message you want to spread out with your art?

That’s my message, as I said before, Nature always finds a way. This power of nature that we are part of, is the main interest in my recent series.

I’ve read that the plants and flowers you use are not real but created by you. Is this true? How do you create these amazing and realistic trees, flowers and even the small grass or musk? Which material or colours do you use?

Over the years I have developed a way to imitate nature better and better. I started using real dead or diseased bonsai trees in my work that I got from bonsai artists in Holland. But then, with my love and respect for nature, I found out that I could not kill the diseased ones, so I managed to keep them alive. This was the start of my ever-growing, and more and more time-consuming, collection of bonsai trees in my studio garden. This helps me to find the right colours and materials to make a convincing imitation.

Why do you choose mainly bonsai rather than “common” plants or flowers? Is it to play more contrast between tree and vase? Or it is a tribute to eastern culture?

Ages ago Buddhist monks saw the little gnarly trees that managed to stay alive under the harsh circumstances of the Chinese mountains. They took them back to their monasteries in order to meditate about the power of nature.

This story about the origin of the art of bonsai is the reason why I use bonsai as a symbol of the unstoppable force of nature.

And what about the vases? Seems to me that you use Dutch ceramics (Delft) and eastern typical products as Chinese pottery. How you chose the “right” vase? Is based on the plant you chose before?

The Delft pottery started of as an imitation of the highly demanded porcelain from the East. You can still see the echo of the original Eastern decorations in the Delftblue that is still made today in Holland.

I like to see how original natural depictions of rocks, flowers and trees become more and more abstract in the Dutch versions. The painters in Holland probably didn't even know what they tried to imitate.

I also have read that you literally broke your vases personally. Is this true? Where do you find them? You have a special technique to broke them in a particular way to use them in your sculptures?

I never know exactly how a vase will break. With more experience over the years I have a slight idea. But mostly I have to go with what happens. Chaos.

How you connect the ceramic pieces to the plant?

I use many different techniques and then glue them to make a strong connection.

Even more impressive are the sculptures that use more than one vase, like “Dutch Mountain” or similar. These works with more vases, have a special menaing?

Those pieces are based on the ancient Chinese penjing art. A landscape in miniature with vegetation and often a typical rock like you see in Zhangjiajie National forest park in China.

In Holland we have no mountains so this is my alternative.

I really like the work “In shoppingcart”. Whit this and other works where you put some car wreck instead of classic ceramics, do you want to send a message for the enviroment?

This piece is from the Beautifull Decay series, is a clear message that need no further explanation I think, as my statement on my site: But no matter what mess we make, nature seems to always find a way to overcome and adept to the changed environment.

Looking at your style, it is common to thing about the Japanese culture of kintsugi, where you put nature instead of gold. Did you take inspiration from this Japanese practice?

My work more based on Dutch culture, inspired by the East. Kintsugi is among one of the things I like. Instead of trying to hide seemingly imperfections it shows how beautiful it is.

In the States they say "there is a crack in everything, that is how the light comes in".

I saw that you pratice also with other sculptures, drawing, tiles decoration. What are your future projects? Did you plan to expand the “broken vase” serie?

I never know exactly what comes next. And I really don't want to know. I always have more ideas than time.

We’re Italian, can we hope to see your works in Italy soon or later? Did you take part in many expositions?

I love Italy and would love to exhibit there one time. Currently, I have galleries in Holland and United States that do many art fairs in Europe and the States.

A really big thanks to Patrick for his kindness and availability, it is a real pleasure for Il Mio Salotto to speak about and spread his fantastic talent.

Images from patrickbergsma.nl