The Shanghai Museum of Glass Art is located near Tianzifang. Its former site was the Shanghai Watch and Plastic Accessories Factory. This brick building, which has withstood the test of time for half a century, has been reinforced and renovated to reappear in the form of an exquisite glass art structure. Although the museum is not large in size, both its exterior walls and roof are designed with a strong sense of style.
The exterior wall alone is embedded with more than 4800 transparent glass bricks that resemble the texture of cave rocks. A giant golden peony, 10 meters wide, 5 meters high, and weighing 1 ton, hangs on the glass wall, seemingly blossoming from the glass, making it particularly eye-catching. Especially at night, the glass wall becomes colorful under the illumination of lights, resembling a fine piece of art.The museum, themed around glass exhibits, spans three floors: the first floor houses the LCM Café and the museum gift shop, where visitors can rest and leisurely purchase glass souvenirs; the second floor exhibition area displays ancient Chinese glass series, masterpieces of world glass masters, and new works by 10 modern glass artists from the international glass art community; the third floor showcases the representative works of glass artist Yang Hui Shan, the founder of the Glass Art Studio. Astonishingly, the ‘Great Vow of This Life’ Guanyin statue, which took 10 years to create, originates from the Yuan Dynasty murals of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang and stands at a total height of 4.5 meters. It is the only non-glass material piece in the museum and is worth seeing.
From March 17th, the Shanghai Museum of Glass Art will welcome its first art exhibition of 2021 – ‘WHY GLASS? Exploring Life and Emotion with LIULI’ International Glass Art Exhibition. The museum has hosted the ‘WHY GLASS’ International Glass Art Series Exhibitions multiple times, which have become a beautiful scenery line of glass art in Shanghai due to their widespread acclaim. The artworks in the series are a collection of treasures from the museum’s founders, Zhang Yi and Yang Hui Shan, connecting the poetic development of glass art.
Steven Weinberg is also the first international glass artist invited after the establishment of the Shanghai Museum of Glass. In the surging studio glass movement in 1980, the glass art world emphasized more on blown glass with rich colors and free shaping. However, Steven Weinberg began his exploration alone in the transparent inner space. Through his creations, Weinberg makes glass an artistic medium, achieving the internal tension of freezing time, showing the tranquility beyond time and space, and conveying an incredible viewing experience to visitors.
Life is so chaotic and uncontrollable. I try my best to find coordination in this chaotic world. In the process of creation, I found that tranquility. 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 ‘Cube’ on display on site is one of Steven Weinberg’s representative works. The unique artistic conception and techniques, and the combination of external shaping and internal light and shadow bring visitors into the frozen time and space constructed by the artist. The ‘Boat’ series initiates another highly difficult breakthrough, transforming each 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 that sets off huge waves in an instant and stops in an instant. With a powerful internal driving force, it shows the static beauty of glass art. The international glass art exhibition ‘WHY GLASS? Exploring Life and Emotion with LIULI’ also exhibits representative works of twelve modern and contemporary international glass art masters. Such as the first person in glass art: Émile Gallé; the successor and reviver of modern French lost-wax casting, Almaric Walter and François Décorchemont; the French modern national treasure-level glass art master: Antoine Leperlier; many artists who participated in the studio glass movement such as Ann Wolff, Jay Musler, Kyohei Fujita, Paul Stankard and Steven Weinberg; French new-generation glass representative artists Lise Gonthier and Gérald Vatrin.
This international glass art exhibition spans a century, showcasing a multitude of brilliant works that allow the vibrant glass art pieces to display the artists’ unique humanistic emotions and exploration of life. Exhibition Location: Shanghai Museum of Glass Art (No. 25 Taikang Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai). Opening Hours: 01/01-10/06 Closed all day on Mondays; 10/09-12/31 Closed all day on Mondays; 01/01-10/06 Open 10:00-17:00 from Tuesday to Sunday; 10/09-12/31 Open 10:00-17:00 from Tuesday to Sunday; 10/08 Closed all day; 10/07 Open 10:00-17:00.
Concessions: Children: Free for children under 1.2 meters (inclusive); Elderly: Discount for seniors aged 65 and above (inclusive); Military: Discount with valid personal identification; Students: Discount with valid identification; Police: Discount with valid personal identification; Teachers: Discount with valid identification; Disabled: Discount with valid identification.
