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, NY. She earned her B.F.A. in Ceramics from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, China (2009), and her M.F.A. from Syracuse University (2014). Her work has been exhibited internationally in the U.S., China, South Korea, and Japan, and in 2024, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London acquired her work for its permanent collection. Yang has presented solo exhibitions, including Folding Time Between Worlds at Tyler Art Gallery (2024), Retrace at Jingdezhen International Studio (2024), Sounds of the Ephemeral at Fou Gallery (2021), and a solo show at the Cayuga Museum of History and Art (2019). Her work has also been featured in major group exhibitions, including NCECA concurrent shows such as Mapping the Multiverse (2024), Contemporary Narratives (2023), and Rivers Connect (2021), as well as international competitions like the Shiwan Cup Emerging Artist Ceramic Sculpture Competition (China, 2023) and the International KOGEI Award in TOYAMA (Japan, 2020). She has participated in artist residencies at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts (2017, 2023), Craigardan (2018), Jingdezhen International Studio (2018, 2023), and STARworks, NC (2022), each deepening her exploration of ceramics as a medium. Her work was also featured in the Korea-China Ceramic Art Exhibition (South Korea, 2022, 2023), marking 30 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations.


SELECTED NEWS

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.