Artist statement: "In my fifteen years of public art experience, my intention has been to integrate the work into the environment, not only to enhance and transform it, but also to create a sense of place. This is particularly important in the case of public landmarks, where people need to feel welcome, inspired and joyful. My work creates a peaceful sense of energy and uplifts the spirits. The natural and life-giving elements which my work evokes, appeals to people from different cultural backgrounds.

 

Artist Statement:

" From a philosophical perspective I seek to convey a message of universal understanding in nature. From an aesthetic point of view I work with color, light and form. My work reflects an individual and distinctive design sensibility, while each new commission receives a fresh approach that is tailored specifically to the site it is created for.  I have received a considerable number of commissions in the public art arena, covering a broad range of project types. From suspension to freestanding sculptures, my works are created from cold cast translucent panels or architecture art glass, which come to life in the sunlight, daylight and night-light.  A kaleidoscope of colored reflections creates a dynamic visual impact and a sense of energy and movement."

About Shan Shan Sheng:

Creating artwork in Asia, Europe and the U.S for nearly three decades, Sheng is considered one of the most acclaimed artists of our time in public art, large-scale and glass sculpture. Her work draws on traditional Chinese painting as well as Western Modernism and Abstract Expressionism and is truly universal and bicultural in scope.  Born in 1957 in Shanghai and raised in Mainland China, Sheng furthered her education and artistic development in the United States, earning a Masters of Art from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She currently lives and works in San Francisco. In addition to her large-scale glass sculptures, Shan Shan Sheng is celebrated as the first Chinese visual artist to be invited to collaborate with Venetian glass experts of Murano, the island renowned for a glass art tradition that extends back over a thousand years. Her paintings and sculptures appear in numerous international collections, including Harvard University, the China National Art Museum in Beijing, the Shanghai Art Museum, the Art Museum of South Texas and the Berengo Collection in Venice, Italy Her large-scale paintings have been installed in some of the tallest buildings in the world (Central Plaza in Hong Kong, Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, Amaco Building of Chicago). Shan Shan Sheng is currently working on two monumental paintings for the China World Trade Center, the tallest building in Beijing.

Shan Shan Sheng's Open Wall project (2009 openwallproject.com) is a large-scale glass installation, restaging a single section of the Great Wall into a large-scale outdoor work along Venice's historic Grand Canal. Sheng's Open Wall project captures an interval of China's Great Wall, translating the historic structure as a temporary zone of glass architecture. Sheng's installation engages in dialogue with this period of relative openness in contemporary China, engaging this dynamic and pivotal moment in history. Open Wall is accessible from the Venice Biennale 2009 Giardini Entrance.

A temporary work, Open Wall reconstructs a moment of China's Great Wall as an assemblage of glass bricks. The glass bricks become a kind of cultural currency, to be distributed and redistributed in the process of installation. Open Wall suggests the possibility of China's contemporary moment, opening the culture to the global economy and an unprecedented exchange of ideas. Sheng's Open Wall is an uncanny, iridescent sculpture, indicating a threshold of both transparency and opacity, as a critical symbol of China's intersection with Western culture. Easily dissembled and reassembled, Sheng's Open Wall evokes a moment of flux and mutual consumption. Open Wall consists of 2,200 glass bricks, corresponding to the 2,200 years of the Great Wall's construction. Sheng re-imagines the Great Wall as a temporary pavilion of stacked glass; her installation evokes the exquisite yet transitory flux of globalized time.

 

Work Experience / Residencies 

2000 - Present   Working with glass masters in Murano, Venice, Italy

1987 - 1989       Artist in Resident, Harvard University Cambridge, Mass 

Selected Recent Public Art Awards

Award- Oklahoma Health Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK 2007

Award- Digital Learning Center, Utah Valley State College, Utah 2007

Award- RTA Great Cleveland Region Station Cleveland, OH 2006-

Award- Miami Sea port, Curies Terminal D, Miami, FL 2005-2007

                Award- New Mexico Tech university, New Mexico, 2005-2007

                Award- Mountain View Parking Structure, Mountain View, CA. 2005

                Award-Taiwan High Speed Strain Station, shin Chu Taiwan 2004-2005

            Award- Corpus Christi International Airport, Corpus Christi, TX  2003-2004

Award –Denver Rude Recreation center, Denver, CO 2003-2004

Award- Taxes Tech University, Health Sciences Center. Lubbock, TX 2004-2007

                Award- Constans Theater, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 2003-2004

                   Award- School of Architecture, Florida A & M University, Tallahassee, FL 2002-

            2004

                Award- Hong Kong Station. International Finance Center II, Hong Kong. 2003-

           2004

Award –Glendale city Adult center public art project, Arizona 2002-2003

Award – Sacramento Public library, CA 2000-2001

As leading design team member - art concept design and planning, Shanghai Entertainment Tunnel, Shanghai, China 2001

As leading design team member - JinJi landscape and sculptures park concept design, City of Suzhou, China 2000  
 

         

Selected Museum Exhibitions/Collections

China National Art Museum Beijing, China

Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX

Rohsska Museum for Design and Art, Goteborg, Sweden

Palazzo delle Prigioni Nouvo, Venice

Peace Museum, Chicago, IL

Museum of Fine Art, Springfield, Mass

Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China           

Selected Art in Public Collections

Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts

Amoco Corporation, Chicago, IL

University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, WI

Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai, China

Central Plaza, Hong Kong

Shanghai International Convention Center, Shanghai

University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts

Sigel Productions, Chicago, IL

Magenta Corporation, Chicago, IL

Post Street Associates San Francisco, CA

Far Eastern Plaza, Taipei. Taiwan

MovenPick, Zurich, Switzerland.

Exxon Energy Ltd., Hong Kong

Ritz Carlton Portman Hotel, Shanghai

The Excelsior, Hong Kong

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group.

Globe Asset Management, Exchange Square II, Hong Kong

Beijing Silver Building, Beijing

Hong Kong cyber-port, Hong Kong

Shangri - La Hotel, Pudong Shanghai

Hilton Hotel, Chongqin, China

Somerley Ltd., Hong Kong

SES Associates Ltd., Paragon Tower, Shanghai

Wesco Polymers Ltd. Lippo Center, Hong Kong

Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China            

Teaching Experience

      1988 – Bridgewater State College, Bridgewater, Mass. Lecturer in Art

      1987 - 88 - Northeastern University, Boston, Mass. Lecturer in Art.

      1985 - 86 - University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass. Graduate Instructor of

                    Art.

              1983-86 Mount Holyoke College, Mass. Lecturer in Art. Department of

              Continuing Education.

Selected Solo & Group Exhibitions in Galleries/International Art Fairs

53^rd Venice Biennale, 2009

OPEN 10, international sculpture and installation exhibition in Lido, Venice, Italy

Art Miami, International Art Exposition. Miami, Florida

Art Asia, , International Art Exposition. Hong Kong

SOFA- International Sculpture & Functional Art Fair, New York City

Asian Art Fair, New York City

 Lineart International Art Fair, Gent, Belgium

The international Glass Art Festival, Waterford, Ireland

 Zee Stone Gallery, Hong Kong

Sin Hua Gallery, Singapore

No. one Xintainde, Shanghai, China

Contemporary Asia Art Fair, Singapore

J gallery, Hong Kong

Shanghai Art Fair. Shanghai, China

International Art Fair. Taipei, Taiwan

Rijboeck Art Agency Holland. Rijswijk NB Holland

World Trade Center, Amsterdam, Holland

Alison Fine Art, Hong Kong

East West Contemporary Art Gallery, Chicago

Art Connection Gallery, Palm Spring

Official Artist, Asian Fest, Navy Pier, Chicago

University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Art Waves Gallery, New York

Fables Gallery, Cambridge, Mass

AAMARP Gallery of Northeastern University, Boston, Mass

Gallery 35, Worcester, Mass

Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass

Tradition 3 Thousand Gallery, New York 

Leveret Art Center, Leveret, Mass

Herter Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass

Spring Boat Steam Art Center, Colorado

Holland Art Fair, Den Heeg, Holland

Tresors & Tresor's D'Art, International Art Fair, Singapore

Artmissia, International Art Fair, Turin, Italy

The South Bend Art Center, South Bend, Indiana

Founders art Gallery, San Diego State University, California

Merwin Gallery, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois  

Arden Gallery, Boston, Mass

New Vision Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Irmtraud Anna Thiel Gallery, Cambridge, Mass

Colby Sawyer College, New London, New Hampshire

Cambridge art Association, Cambridge, Mass 

Chinese Culture Institute, Boston, Mass

Hampshire College, Amherst, Mass

New England Artists Festival, Amherst, Mass

Visiting Artists and Lectures

1999 - Visiting Professor, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

1991 - Southern Illinois University, Illinois

1991 - Illinois Wesleyan University, Illinois

1990 - Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, Chicago, Illinois

    1990 - Alumni Association of Seven Sisters Colleges, Chicago, Illinois

  1989 - Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois

  1989 - Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge, Mass.

  1988 - University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin

  1988 - Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.

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