Artist: Bi Rongrong
Curators: Lise Li
Opening: 15:00-18:00 November4,2017
Duration: November4,2017- February28,2018
Venue: 1st and 2nd Floor of N1 Art Tower Shanghai Museum of Glass Park
Bi Rongrong’s new solo project will start from Nov.4th in Shanghai Museum of Glass.
After around one year preparation, Bi Rongrong’s solo project with glass “ Wave” will launch in the Shanghai Museum of Glass from Nov.4th, 2017. This is the second time Rongrong uses pattern to create her artworks, the first time she did was in her solo exhibition “Absolute” in the gallery in 2016. But it’s quite different this time from the first time she made works with pattern, because of the media: Glass.
Bi Rongrong began by using WAVE to rebuild her self-awareness, and has been improving or digging deeper this construction process. In her solo exhibition at SMOG, her exhibits are placed around the beginning point of wave s. In her previous works, Bi Rongrong consciously or unconsciously applied some wave patterns; driven by curiosity, she has been re-using and re-organizing such patterns into new geometric graphics, gradient colors, curves, spiral patterns and their relationship with the space. In this sense, the wave pattern itself seems no longer important, as the constructive relationship has established in the process. If Bi Rongrong’s previous exhibition, “Absolute”, was considered as the beginning of this construction process, this new solo “Wave” is the continuation of the construction.
Transparent, light and fragile—such are Bi Rongrong’s direct impression and feelings on glass, “transparency makes glass looks swift.” For those familiar with Bi Rongrong’s art style, her works are closely related to, or originated from, her paintings, which are rich in colors and visually appealing. When seeing the outcome of the 2016 Annealing Project, Bi Rongrong expressed her hope to further explore the relationship between her works and the field with the help of the professional teams at SMOG. Such an exploration requires the artist to try media other than painting to extend the lines, shapes, colors, and structures in her mind into the space.
What is annealing? It is an important part in glass making and is the key for shaping: after the hot glass is molded under thousands of degrees of temperature, the work comes to its final shape going through four steps of annealing: heating, insulation, slow cooling and fast cooling. During the process, what is controllable and uncontrollable interact to bring an unpredictable fate to the artwork, which is fascinating. Last year, SMOG officially named the project it conducts together with cross-border artists “Annealing”, where each contemporary artist are expected to use glass to bring the audience and the industry surprising and unanticipated works from the perspectives in their own fields.
The exhibition will last till Feb.28, 2018.
