Artist Statement

My work explores the balance between dualities—restraint and freedom, memory and loss, dislocation and belonging—rooted in my migration between China and the U.S. Influenced by Daoist philosophy, I see contradictions not as conflicts but as coexisting forces: a body suspended between languages, cultures, and unresolved belonging. Using hand-building, slip casting, and paper clay, I create fragile yet enduring forms that merge geometric and organic shapes, echoing the tension of structure and chaos. Transferred images and blurred drawings evoke half-remembered conversations, while cracks honor the beauty of imperfection. Through these material dialogues, I preserve fleeting emotions, inviting viewers to reflect on transition, resilience, and impermanence. For me, art is a bridge between inner life and shared understanding—a quiet reminder that to be human is to hold opposing truths at once.

Biography

Renqian Yang is an artist and Associate Professor of Ceramics at SUNY Oswego, New York. She received her B.F.A. in Ceramics from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, China (2009), and her M.F.A. from Syracuse University (2014). Her work has been exhibited widely in the United States, China, South Korea, and Japan, and in 2024 was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for its permanent collection. She is currently featured in Dimensions: Contemporary Chinese Studio Crafts at the V&A in South Kensington, London.

Her solo exhibitions include Folding Time Between Worlds at Tyler Art Gallery (2024), Retrace at Jingdezhen International Studio (2024), Sounds of the Ephemeral at Fou Gallery (2021), and the Cayuga Museum of History and Art (2019). Her work has also appeared in group exhibitions at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University (2025), the Featherstone Center for the Arts in Martha’s Vineyard (2025), and in several NCECA concurrent exhibitions (2021, 2023, 2024). Internationally, Yang has exhibited in competitions and museum shows such as the Shiwan Ceramics Museum, Foshan, Guangdong, China (2023), and the Prefectural Museum of Art and Design, Toyama, Japan (2021). She has been awarded residencies at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts (2017, 2023), Craigardan (2018), Jingdezhen International Studio (2018, 2023), and STARworks, North Carolina (2022). Her work was also presented in the Korea–China Ceramic Art Exhibition (South Korea, 2022) and at the Korea National Assembly Proceeding Hall, Seoul (2023), celebrating 30 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

SELECTED NEWS

• “Failing Is a Part of Growth, New York-based Artist Renqian Yang”. LiTang, OCTOBER 20, 2022

• “Meet Renqian Yang | Artist & Educator.” Shoutout LA, 1 August 2022

• Renqian Yang: Sounds of The Ephemeral, 2021, Ceramics Now, March 7th, 2022

• Small, Zachary. “After Pak and Beeple, What’s Next for NFT Collectors? Art Made with a Paintbrush.” The New York Times, 12 February 2022

• Interview with Renqian yang, by Ann Shi, Houston Asian American Archive, Chao Center for Asian Studies, Rice University

• Hai, Liang. “A Journey Through Antithesis: On Renqian Yang’s Ceramic Works.” Tussle, 3 May 2021

• “Fou Gallery presents ‘Renqian Yang: Sounds of the Ephemeral’ in New York”. CAFA Art Info, 2 April 2021

• “Renqian Yang: Sounds of the Ephemeral”. Asia Art Archive, 5 April 2021

• Exhibition Review” Rivers Connect Unstoppable Forces in Contemporary” Monthly Ceramic Art June 2021_NCECA(Korean)

• 海良，“穿梭于对立之间：杨人倩陶瓷作品”，艺术中国，2021年5月3日

• “‘瞬逝之音’杨人倩个展”，艺术头条，2021年3月29日

• 张琦，“展评｜杨人倩：用色彩构建的情绪之门”，倍儿艺术，2021年5月31日

• “Lan Zhaoxing and Renqian Yang: Between Mountains”. Asian Art Archive, 15 January 2019

• Lin, Zi. “Renqian Yang and Her Porcelain Prose”. Tussle Magazine, June 2019

• Review” Renqian Yang and Her Porcelain Prose” Art Collection, 典藏. Issued in April 2019. Text by Lin Zi. Translated by Lin Zi and Ding Wanlun.

• Wang, Sue. “Fou Gallery presents ‘Lan Zhaoxing and Renqian Yang: Between Mountains’ in New York”. CAFA Art Info, 29 January 2019

• Wang, Sue. “Renqian Yang’s Solo Exhibition at Cayuga Museum of History and Art.” CAFA Art Info, 28 August 2019

• Taoxichuan Ceramic Art Avenue Art Gallery presents Renqian Yang’s exhibition “Construct Deconstruction” CAFA ART INFO, Art News, by SUE WANG

• “Opening Reception REN Studio: Extraordinary Ordinary”, SinoVision English Channel, December 21, 2017

• "Fou Gallery announces “Renqian Yang: Complementary Colors” opening on Jan. 14." CAFA Art Info, January 6, 2017

• “Abstract Art in Dialogue”, New York Art Series, The China Press(侨报纽约), Jan 31st, 2017

• Lin, Zi. "Renqian Yang: Complementary Colors" Artco China(典藏·今艺)  (March 2017)

• Artist Guide, Renqian Yang “Complementary Colors”, Art.china.cn (艺术中国) March, 13th, 2017

• "Urban sprawl#1”, "Urban sprawl#3" Stone Canoe Number 11, January 2017

• Yang, Renqian. "Renqian Yang: She Makes Still-life Alive." Interview with Su Muzhe. ZaoWuji, January 2016.

• “Migrating”, Art Scene Today (January 2016)

• Kostov, Ana Bambic. "Renqian Yang." ArtAscent, Issue 10, December 2014, 8-15.

SELECTED CATALOGUES

•   “Korea-China Ceramic Art Symposium” catalog, ye’s park ceramics art village, Icheon, South Korea, 2022

• “With Roots Deep, Foliage Thrives – 根 深 叶 茂”- A Vision of Chinese Artists in American Academia 2022, Art and Design Exhibition catalog.

• Rivers Connect Unstoppable Forces in Contemporary Ceramics, exhibition catalog, Northern Kentucky University, Syracuse University.2021

• “International KOGEI Award in TOYAMA 2020” Exhibition catalog, Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design, Toyama Japan, 2021

• Renqian Yang: Urban Microcosmos (exhibition brochure). Text by Echo He. New York: Fou Gallery, 2018.