Spencer Fung: On Porcelain, Place and the Poetry of Nature
We are thrilled to share our recent conversation with artist, architect, and nature-inspired creative Spencer Fung, whose poetic, instinctive approach to art invites us to reconnect with the natural world in profound and unexpected ways.
Fresh from his latest exhibition, ODE TO THE LOTUS, held at the Connolly showroom in London, Spencer continues to deepen his exploration of materials, memory, and the emotional resonance of the landscape. A lifelong observer of nature, Spencer has filled countless sketchbooks with studies of trees, light, leaves, and earth. His practice is rooted in the use of local, organic, and biodegradable materials — from clay dug by hand to pigments made of soil, minerals, and even melted snow or lake water. Tools are often improvised: brushes of twigs, moss, leaves, or simply his own hands.
You describe your work as “painting with nature.” Can you tell us what that means to you on a sensory or emotional level?
“When I paint in wild places I use materials around me for pigments - clay, soil and minerals from cliffs, rocks and forest floors. Organic materials help me to engage with the natural world. I paint nature with nature.”
In ODE TO THE LOTUS, your recent exhibition at Connolly, you explore the journey from “muddy waters to the celestial.” What drew you to the lotus as a symbol—and how did that metaphor unfold in porcelain?
“The serendipitous association between shapes emerging from my fingers and the lotus leaf took me back to my childhood. I remember reciting a prose-like poem from the Sung Dynasty, in which the author celebrates the lotus rising unstained from muddy waters, becoming a symbol of hope, strength and purity. This resonated profoundly.”
Is there a moment in nature—a place, a season, a fleeting detail—that has stayed with you and continues to influence your work?
“Loch Rannoch in Scotland is a magical place and inspired my ink and earth paintings for 'My Abstract Landscape', my first show at Connolly in 2018. The St Llorenç mountain in Catalonia near my wife's family home always inspires me. It's always like homecoming, yet every season, every day I discover something new."
Spring is a season full of hope. I follow the light of the sun when I paint, I am most contented and at ease working under the sun.”
Your process seems deeply meditative. Do you see your art as a form of ritual, or even as a kind of spiritual practice?
“When I create, I do submerge myself in a form of meditation, as such I do feel the results are spiritual to me.
Art historian Wendy Meaken, moderator at the Connolly exhibition conversation, referred to the porcelains as talismans.”
Porcelain is a delicate and demanding medium. What did you discover while working with It that surprised you most?
“Working with porcelain has challenged me in a new way. I learn to be humble and let the lump of clay speak and lead. The form, the shape, the lines and the textures are free-flowing, instinctive and of the moment.”
How do you choose your natural pigments and materials? Are they led by geography, personal history, or something more instinctive?
“My art flows from my love of nature. I like to be resourceful, I paint using natural pigments from the landscape around me.
It is important to understand your roots, embrace them and let them be involved.”
What kind of experience do you hope viewers take away from your work—whether they’re simply admiring it or considering it for their own space? Do you prefer to leave room for personal interpretation, or do you like to guide the viewer toward a more intentional narrative that reflects your vision?
“Resilience, strength and hope for the future is a recurring theme across the different mediums I work in. I take inspiration from the landscape around, from trees to mountains, rocks, lochs, clouds, leaves, seeds, roots and lichen. My paintings, drawings and ceramics are abstract and expressive as I search for bold, emotive statements. I am a naturalistic artist and architect. I hope viewers will be connected with nature and will be inspired to restore our fragile environment.”