Poster of highland echo Exhibition
The young artist support program and work exhibition echo from the highland, initiated and hosted by Beijing Qihao culture foundation, recently opened in Qihao Beijing. The exhibition invited Chinese young glass artist Dumont to bring his work highland echo II for exhibition, and launched a series of exhibitions and activities such as narration, interaction and sharing around this group of works.
This is the second exhibition on glass art held by Beijing Qihao culture foundation. Previously, a glass art exhibition with the theme of “material exploration” was held. For the first time, excellent young glass artists in China were presented in a centralized manner, and many positive feedback was received. The exhibition will also continue the previous support framework, combining different parts such as public space exhibition, creative sharing and curator guide, so as to provide more opportunities for dialogue and interaction between the community and the public.
Dumont, the artist participating in this exhibition, won the honorary award of Kanazawa international glass Award (Kanazawa, Japan) in 2016, breaking the situation that Japanese artists “monopolize” Kanazawa award and becoming the first Chinese artist to win the award. In 2018, she won the new artist award of the 47th International Glass Art Conference (Venice, Italy). In April 2018, she held a solo exhibition in Shanghai Glass Museum, which is the youngest artist to hold a solo exhibition in Shanghai Glass Museum so far.
Strong narrative is a remarkable feature of Dumont’s creation. She once said in an interview, “glass has memory. Although it is only a physical phenomenon, it is particularly poetic in my opinion. It can refract light and is very suitable for expressing lost emotions, or a space that is not easy to materialize.”
Dumont always pays attention to the preservation and recording of memories so that they do not fade with the passage of time. With his innate sensitivity to extract meaning from stories, Dumont shows the process of memory decay and how they slowly disappear from the subconscious into a way to commemorate the memory itself. In the future, her sketch and illustration techniques will be integrated into the surface treatment of glass and image making technology, and the ready-made products from individual experience will be added to reproduce the nostalgia and memory from a specific time and space that she does not want to lose.
“Highland echo II” comes from Dumont’s experience of collecting stones in Rochester’s Highland Park. The artist collects a stone every month as a record of time. In this series, she made twelve partially polished glass containers, in which only the empty shape of the stone is retained. The small window on the jar allows the viewer to peep into it. The seemingly real stone is actually just a form of silver foil, and there is nothing in it. After the project was completed, Dumont returned the stones to nature and continued their previous work.
The person in charge of Beijing Qihao cultural foundation, the organizer, said that the creation of highland echo II series is full of strong personal emotion and spiritual power. The narrative system behind the works answers the question of how individuals write and preserve memory. To this end, the exhibition has set up a special area to show the artist’s manuscripts and creative tools. Similarly, through the anatomy of creation, it shows the artist’s narrative and creative process.
This exhibition is also strongly supported by no Gallery in New York and Mr. Ma Hao, the curator.
Beijing Qihao Culture Foundation launched the Qihao young artists support program in 2020. The program aims to explore and support contemporary young artists through various forms of art exhibitions and dialogue activities such as theme exhibitions and lectures, and encourage artists to carry out interesting experiments and in-depth discussions with community members and the wider public through the establishment and promotion of themes and offline physical exhibitions.
Echo from the highland II, Dumont glass, tea, silver foil 12.7cm x 12.7cm x 14cm 2016 Photography: JOYA studio, contribution: Beijing Qihao Culture Foundation
Highland echo exhibition site, photographed by JOYA studio, contributed by Beijing Qihao Culture Foundation
Highland echo exhibition site, photographed by JOYA studio, contributed by Beijing Qihao Culture Foundation
Artist’s manuscripts and tools, photography: JOYA studio, contribution: Beijing Qihao Culture Foundation
About artists
Artist portrait, photographer: Lin Peichao, contributed by: no Gallery
Du Meng (B. 1986, Beijing, China) graduated from the school of design of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2008. He graduated from Rochester University of technology in 2013, majoring in glass. He currently works and lives in Beijing. Her works continue to participate in international exhibitions in the United States, China, Europe and other places, and have won many awards.
In 2016, she won the Kanazawa international glass Award (Kanazawa, Japan). In 2018, she won the new artist award of the 47th International Glass Art Conference (Venice, Italy). In April 2018, she held a solo exhibition in Shanghai Glass Museum, which is the youngest artist to hold a solo exhibition in Shanghai Glass Museum so far.
Dumont’s works were widely reported by China Daily, people’s daily, fashion cosmopolitan, vogue, art China, art news network of the Central Academy of fine arts and other media, and were invited to attend a speech (2020) and a speech of Rog Glass Light International Art Project (2020).
Recent exhibitions of artists include: looking for hidden talents: Vivian Mayer, Today Art Museum, Beijing, 2021; Hot elements, Anyun art and design center, Shenzhen, 2020; Between, Delaware Museum of contemporary art, USA, 2020; Dumont: ember, no Gallery, New York, 2019; Dumont: room, Shanghai Glass Museum, Shanghai, 2018; Kanazawa international glass exhibition, Shichuan Shikoku cultural center, Japan, 2016, evolution: 2015 Qingdao contemporary glass art exhibition, Qingdao, 2015; Shanghai Art and design exhibition, Shanghai Design Museum, Shanghai, 2013, etc. In June 2016, she held a solo exhibition “Dumont: retreat” in no gallery