Wang Quan
China Academy of Art
BFA & MFA in Glass Art and Design
The seven years Wang Quan spent at the China Academy of Art marked an in-depth exploration into the inner nature of glass, during which he articulated an Eastern aesthetic language grounded in glass as a primary medium.
His practice consistently unfolds along two independent yet interrelated trajectories.
The glass sculpture series
The glass sculpture series is dedicated to exploring the poetic coexistence between material and space. In Wang Quan’s hands, glass is no longer a cold, inert substance, but a medium that captures, refracts, and extends light. Through its inherent transparency and fragility, the works construct a liminal field that hovers between reality and illusion, inviting viewers to reconsider the boundaries of vision and perception. Within static forms, the flow of light and traces of time become perceptible, guiding the viewer toward an awareness of emptiness and eternity concealed beneath material presence.
The glass vessel series
Wang Quan’s glass vessel series, by contrast, focuses on translating the spirit of traditional Chinese craftsmanship through a contemporary glass language. Rather than simply replicating historical forms, the works delve into the philosophical and ritual dimensions embedded within functional objects. By drawing on the purity and spiritual resonance of glass, the series reinterprets the classical concept of “the vessel as a bearer of meaning.” Each object transcends functionality to become a contemporary continuation of cultural memory, allowing ancient Eastern aesthetics to acquire renewed vitality and relevance through material transformation.
Glass—tempered by fire and fixed within an instant—serves as a precise metaphor for Wang Quan’s creative practice itself: a continual search for balance between intensity and restraint, the fleeting moment and the eternal.
