Shanghai Museum of Glass Art is located near Tianzifang. The museum was formerly the Shanghai Clock Plastic Fittings Factory. This 50-year-old brick building that has withstood wind, frost, rain and snow has been reinforced and renovated, and reappeared in front of the public as an exquisite glass architectural form.
Although the museum is not large in area, both the exterior wall and the roof are full of design sense. More than 4,800 transparent glass bricks with the texture of grotto rocks are inlaid on the exterior wall alone. A giant golden peony 10 meters wide, 5 meters high and weighing 1 ton is hung on the glass wall, as if blooming out of the glass, which is particularly eye-catching. Especially at night, the glass wall becomes colorful under the reflection of lights, just like an exquisite art work.
The museum is themed on glass exhibits, with three floors in total: the first floor has LCM Café and the museum gift shop for people to rest and relax or buy glass gifts; the exhibition area on the second floor displays ancient Chinese glass series, masterpieces of world glass masters, and new works of 10 modern glass artists in the international glass circle; the third floor exhibits the representative works of Yang Huishan, the artist of Liuli Gongfang, who is also the founder of Liuli Gongfang.
What is amazing is the "Present Life Great Vow" Guanyin statue that took 10 years to create. This three-dimensional restored work derived from the Yuan Dynasty murals of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes has a total height of 4.5 meters. It is the only non-glass work preserved in this museum and is well worth a visit.
Incredible Glass Art Master
— Steven Weinberg from the WHY GLASS International Glass Art Exhibition
Starting from March 17, Shanghai Museum of Glass Art ushered in its first art exhibition in 2021 — the international glass art exhibition "WHY GLASS? Exploring Life and Emotion with LIULI".
The "WHY GLASS" international glass art series exhibitions that have been held for many times by Shanghai Museum of Glass Art have been widely praised and have become a beautiful scenery of glass art in Shanghai. The artworks in the series are the essence of years of collections by Zhang Yi and Yang Huishan, the founders of the museum, connecting the poetic and vigorous development context of glass art. From the vigorous American Studio Glass Movement to the Asian contemporary glass art that contains oriental culture, it builds a comprehensive development history of modern and contemporary glass art for the majority of professionals and enthusiasts.
This exhibition specially displays the series of works "Boat Series" and "Clear Cube" by Steven Weinberg, the representative artist of the American Studio Glass Movement.
Known as the American master of glass casting, Steven Weinberg has held more than 200 exhibitions around the world, and more than 30 museums around the world have collected his glass artworks. Steven Weinberg is also the first international glass artist invited after the establishment of Shanghai Museum of Glass Art. In the surging Studio Glass Movement in 1980, the glass art circle emphasized more on blown glass with rich colors and free shaping, while Steven Weinberg started his exploration alone in the transparent inner space. Through creation, Weinberg makes glass an artistic medium, achieves the inner tension of condensing time, shows the tranquility beyond time and space, and conveys an incredible viewing experience to visitors.
Life is so chaotic and uncontrollable,
I try my best to find harmony in this messy world.
In the process of creation, I found that peace.
Through the process of making objects,
I am able to set parameters make sense of space
where as my day-to-day life borders on unmanageable chaos.
I find peace in the process of making art juxtaposed
to the uncertainty of everyday living.
—— Steven Weinberg
The "Clear Cube" exhibited on site is one of the representative works of Steven Weinberg. With unique artistic ideas and techniques, the combination of external shaping and internal light and shadow brings visitors into the solidified time and space constructed by the artist. The "Boat Series" has opened another difficult breakthrough, turning every arc of the work into the unity of flow and condensation. The bubbles inside the glass endow the work with an extremely dreamy temperament. Steven Weinberg's "Boat Series" is like a seemingly calm life voyage, which sets off huge waves in an instant and stops in a flash, showing the static beauty of glass art with strong internal driving force.
The international glass art exhibition "WHY GLASS? Exploring Life and Emotion with LIULI" also exhibits representative works of 12 modern and contemporary international glass art masters at the same time. Such as Émile Gallé, the first person of glass art; Almaric Walter and François Décorchemont, the inheritors and revivers of modern French lost wax casting; Antoine Leperlier, the French modern national treasure level glass art master; many artists who participated in the Studio Glass Movement, such as Ann Wolff, Jay Musler, Kyohei Fujita, Paul Stankard and Steven Weinberg; Lise Gonthier and Gérald Vatrin, representative artists of the new generation of French glass. This international glass art exhibition spans a hundred years of time and space, presenting a large number of wonderful works, allowing the colorful glass artworks to show the unique humanistic emotion and life exploration of the artists.
Exhibition location: Shanghai Museum of Glass Art (No. 25 Taikang Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai)
