Renqian Yang’s solo exhibition has opened at the Cayuga Museum of History and Art on August 15, 2019. The show showcases some of the major ceramics and paintings created by Renqian Yang in the United States between 2013 and 2019. The show will be on display from August 15 to September 14, 2019.

Fascinated by dualism and binaries, Yang’s work addresses the unity and the contradiction of dichotomies by combining the seemingly divergent, such as tragedy and comedy, correctness and abstraction, restriction and freedom, pessimism and optimism, complexity and simplicity, and the man-made world and the natural world; her work explores how an individual is related to nature, society, and oneself. Meanwhile, Yang Renqian’s work perspective starts with her own standpoint and interests. As a foreign citizen of Asian origin living in the United States, Yang pays attention to the social development in different cultures, as well as the interaction among the individual, the city and nature. Yang’s work also suggests the innate emotional characteristics of females, such as independence, perseverance, softness, and delicacy. From an outsider’s perspective, she reflects on the often neglected parts in our time, such as every individual’s free will and its inseparability with the society, the optimistic attitude of the consumerist society and the feeling of emptiness, and beyond.

In terms of creative techniques, Yang combines both traditional and non-traditional methods in her practice. While primarily focusing on ceramics, her work also extends to installation, sculpture, drawing, painting, video and functional everyday objects. By engaging ceramics in many different ways, the clay can find new opportunities for expression. The show at the Cayuga Museum of History and Art continues her exploration on site-specific installations. The museum is converted from a 19th-century-old mansion. The last family heir gave the old house to Professor Walter Long for constructing the museum at the cost of “five dollars plus a box of cigarettes.” Yang studies the architectural details of the house, including the 19th century Tiffany stained glass window, the ornate dining room in Renaissance Revival style and the original wood walls and makes the exhibition design as part of the interior. Renqian’s solo show at the Cayuga Museum of History and Art is the sixth show of the museum’s CNY Emerging Artist project, which features ten emerging artists from the Central New York region with a new show each month, from March to November.

About the artist

Renqian Yang (b.1987, Xiangtan, Hunan Province, China). She earned her B.F.A. in Ceramics from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing in 2009 and her M.F.A. in Ceramics from Syracuse University in 2014. Currently, she lives and works in Oswego, New York as an artist and Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at Oswego. Yang’s work has continued to exhibit in the U.S. and China. Her recent exhibitions include: Renqian Yang, Cayuga Museum of History and Art, Auburn, New York (2019); Renqian Yang and Lan Zhaoxing: Between Mountains, Fou Gallery, New York (2019); Renqian Yang: Construct Deconstruction, Taoxichuan Ceramic Art Avenue Art Gallery, Jingdezhen, China (2018); Renqian Yang: Complementary Colors, Fou Gallery, New York (2016); Rare Earth: National Ceramics Exhibition, Cabrillo Gallery, Aptos, California (2016). In January 2017, she had her first solo exhibition in New York at Fou Gallery. She served as a residency artist at Craigardan (2018), Jingdezhen International Studio (2018), and the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts (2017).  Artist’s website: www.renqianyang.com

About the exhibition

Duration: August 15－September 14, 2019

Venue: Cayuga Museum of History and Art

Address: 203 Genesee St, Auburn, NY 13021

Courtesy of the artist and Cayuga Museum of History and Art. The full schedule could be found at http://cayugamuseum.org/cny-emerging-artist-project/.