Lightness of Being Exhibition
An Exhibition Invoking the Essence of Existence
By Vanessa Lee Taub
CONTEMPORARY CHINESE GLASS SCULPTURE
Since the dawning of the Studio Glass Movement inChina, initiated by ZHUANG Xiaowei in the 1990s, the scene inChinahas undergone a major evolution. This artistic evolution and emergence is rooted firmly in academic training and education and proudly embraces Chinese culture and history, whilst being expressed in a strikingly contemporary approach.
With many of the early artworks having been shown in academic exhibitions inShanghai, the sculptors have emerged to the wider community since 2006 with China Rises series of exhibitions by Galerie Vee in Hong Kong and theUnited States.
Chinese contemporary glass artists firmly place themselves in the international arts arena both in terms of sculpture in glass as well as within the greater contemporary Chinese arts scene.
True to contemporaryChina, where change occurs at a staggering pace unsen elsewhere in the world, where advancement is heralded as the new (and only) way and a sense of urgency to catch up is prevalent, the glass sculptor scene is being spurred on at this dramatic pace. This fast-paced equalizing has indeed become the standard inChinas development.
There are fine art debates about the nature of glass as art. In the work of the Chinese artists, glass in confidently shown as a medium for sculpture. Placed in relation to the American Studio Glass Movement, (started in the late 1960s), glass as a medium for sculpture is ready for wider fine art recognition as such. This relatively new, yet enticingly sensual medium of glass, is ready to be welcomes by visionaries to the world of fine art sculpture.
HISTORICALLY
Historically, glass did not seem to acquire the same level of appreciation as ceramics inChina. There are numerous practical reasons for this. For example, firstly, glass was not needed architecturally as the windows were small and materials such as paper were used to cover windows. Secondly in a tea drinking nation, drinking glasses such as goblets were not needed as they were in theRoman Empire. Culturally glass was not needed in daily life, except of course in the Imperial court of the Qing Dynasty where special craftsmen were employed to create fine decorative and functional objects in glass. Mr. Andrew K.F. Lees collection is one of the most important international collections of rare antique Qing glass.
LIGHTNESS OF BEING
An Exhibition Invoking the Essence of Existence
Commentary by Vanessa Lee Taub
This exhibition reflects on ESSENCE. Purity.
In these works the artists distil the vision of life through their raison detre - their work. A simplification and purification of the essence of their work reflects the essence of life for them. The works exude an ethereal realization of life through the artists eyes.
For ZHUANG Xiaowei, this is the crystallized poetry of deep rooted Chinese culture in the melodies of his Grey Flutes
For WANG Qin, the Zen-like colors and forms of his calligraphy simply recreates his vision of the personal growth process
WU Ouhong finds simplicity in light through a series of complex architectural structures and anglesa journey through life
In LUO Xiaoshus work, his vision of the human sculptural form simply exudes sensuality and the common experience and essence of life in his eyes..
WANG Qin
WANG Qin was born in Jingdezhen, Jianxi Province in China in 1978. Growing up in a city made famous for Chinese ceramics, Wang's early interest centered on ceramics and then painting, like many of his counterparts in the West. He then evolved into a conversation with glass as his chosen medium when he attained a Master of Fine Art in Glass at Shanghai University.
In his work, Wang challenges traditional precious qualities of glass such as translucency and vividness by playing with opaqueness and monochromes. In his continual desire to push the boundaries of tradition and glass, Wang's sculptures expand broadly to horizontal explorations of a vertical art of calligraphy.
His early boyhood memories were of his resistance to his father's teachings of calligraphy. Yet in his work, Wang’s regret over his early rejection of Chinese culture becomes apparent in his Calligraphy and Non-calligraphy sculptures where he emits an enticing subtle intimacy with the movements of black ink as it hits the rice paper and a quiet pride in his Chinese culture. His deep influence by Zen Buddhism is apparent in his austere forms and his own personal journey seeking nirvana in pursuit of his own artistic growth. The symbolism of personal growth and evolution is the experience Wang seeks to convey throughout his work.
Wang Qin is an important artist in the Contemporary Chinese Glass Sculpture scene, his work now considered an essential part of a cutting edge collection of glass sculpture.
He has been exhibited in Galerie Vee in Hong Kong and the United States since 2005 when his work was first spotted by Vanessa Lee Taub, Director of Galerie Vee.
His past exhibitions with Galerie Vee include Wealth in Creativity in 2008, SOFA Chicago, Galerie Vee in collaboration with Leo Kaplan Modern Gallery New York, China Rises: Orientation in 2006, Dialogue of 8 in 2006, China Rises: The Evolution in 2006, and Explorations: Opposites Attract in 2006.
Museum collections include the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung Museum in Munich, Germany and currently, he has work under review for a British Museum.
Further reading: WANG Qin is included in the publication China Rises: China's Contemporary Sculpture in Glass published by Galerie Vee ISBN 988-99525-0-5.
WU Ouhong
WU Ouhong was born in Jiangsu Province in China in 1979. She completed her Bachelor of Arts at The Art College of Yangzhou University, Jiangsu Province and then went on to complete her Master of Fine Art in Glass at The Fine Arts College of Shanghai University, Shanghai. At present WU is a lecturer at Suzhou Art and Design Technology College in Jiangsu Province.
For WU, working with glass is as much about stretching her own vision as it is about that of her audience. It represents her own personal growth as an artist and as an individual. Her preoccupation with the grandness of construction is as much about constructing her own growth as it is about the fascinating three dimensional forms she is creating. Upon gazing on her sculptures, we feel drawn into the intricacies of her structures and a sense that we could climb right into these forms and discover magical secret doorways, entrances and intriguing passages. She uses the enchantment of light and intrigue of shadow with the angles and curves of her sculptures.
WU feels that art has chosen her rather her choosing the art. She feels compelled to create her glass sculptures. WU is mesmerized by the exquisite qualities of glass. She is enthralled how she can breathe life into a cold lifeless material transforming the glass into artwork beyond its original form and definition. She quotes "The wind sweeps through bamboo stalks and leaves no sound; swans fly over still waters and leave no shadow."
WU Ouhong is one of the principle new artists working in glass in China and her work demands significant attention.
ZHUANG Xiaowei
ZHUANG Xiaowei was born in Beijing, China in 1957. He is the patriarch and oldest of the artists.
Zhuang's contribution to the Contemporary Chinese Glass Sculpture scene is central to its creation. It was Zhuang who not only learned the skills in Wolverhampton University in the U.K to educate new students in China, but he also effected the purchase of machinery from defunct glass factories in the United Kingdom and set up the first glass studio in China, in the city of Shanghai. Today the Shanghai glass studio is the most established and well developed in China. Vanessa Lee Taub, Director of Galerie Vee, is honored and proud to have been instrumental in being the first gallery to expose Professor Zhuang's work and that of his studio to the international glass sculpture scene.
In Zhuang's work we see contrast. In contrast with the austere times of the Cultural Revolution, Zhuang's energies focus on beauty, vibrancy and lyricism. In his essay, The Vision of Poetry, Zhuang confesses that for him his glass sculptures "describe the world in the way a poem does. Sculpture is the language of life itself." (sic). Zhuang is indeed a poet in glass. His grandmother, who was a well-known Chinese poet influenced his experience of the world and his life. Today he considers his works to be a physical embodiment of his poetry, his message.
Interestingly Zhuang's traditional Chinese concepts and values are solidified in highly contemporary forms, influenced by contemporary architecture of a thriving and modern Shanghai. His theme of a traditional Chinese 'rice-picking melody' forms the basis of his play with color and light in his Grey Flute series. Zhuang's elongated 'Flutes' tower into the sky vibrantly as the melodies float upwards. Fung Shui elements such as the circle and the flow of air are introduced, allowing the fluidity of balance to pass through his artworks. His commentary on the ability for coexistence of history and modern China defy the Cultural Revolution period in which he grew up where history and education were rejected as elitist and bourgeois.
Zhuang Xiaowei is pivotal to the development and continuity of the Contemporary Chinese Glass Sculpture scene.
He has been exhibited in Galerie Vee in Hong Kong and the United States since 2005 when his work and his role were first identified by Vanessa Lee Taub, Director of Galerie Vee and pioneer of the Contemporary Chinese Glass Sculpture scene.
His past exhibitions with Galerie Vee include Wealth in Creativity in 2008, SOFA Chicago, Galerie Vee in collaboration with Leo Kaplan Modern Gallery New York, China Rises: Orientation in 2006, Dialogue of 8 in 2006, China Rises: The Evolution in 2006, and Explorations: Opposites Attract in 2006.
Museum collections include the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung Museum in Munich, Germany and currently, he has work under review for a British Museum.
Further reading: ZHUANG Xiaowei is included in the publication China Rises: China's Contemporary Sculpture in Glass published by Galerie Vee ISBN 988-99525-0-5.
