Meng Du: Shadow of Day, Shadow of Night
January 28–April 16, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 28, 3–7 pm, 2023
Location: Fou Gallery, 410 Jefferson Ave #1, Brooklyn, NY 11221
Curator: Lynn Hai, Curatorial Assistant: Barbara Song
Curatorial Talk: January 28, 5 pm, 2023
Open to Public
New York - Fou Gallery is pleased to announce that we are presenting glass artist Meng Du’s solo exhibition Shadow of Day, Shadow of Night from January 28 to April 16, 2023. This is Meng Du's third solo show at Fou Gallery, and it features her cast, blown and Tiffany glass works created between 2020 and 2022. This is also the first collaboration between Meng Du and Fou Gallery partner and Art Director, Lynn Hai. When curating Shadow of Day, Shadow of Night, Hai hopes to explore unprecedented perspectives in Du’s creation than the past art critiques on her works. Thus, Hai focuses on the narrative depth and literariness of Du’s glass sculptures. Hai attempts to refine and emphasize this view adequately in both curatorial writing and the visual and spatial presentation and manifest the poetic “constellation” structure in the narrations implied by Du’s works.
The works featured in this exhibition are the series "People Sitting by the Window"&"Grow Secretly in A Boundless World", "Drift Through the Forest, Silence In the Valley", "Hello, Again", "Apartment", "A Cat See the World Leaping Away" and "Cat in the Corner".
"We have all been through and experienced a lot of unfortunate things in the past few years. To me, I found time is so blurred and disconnected. The whole world was folded into a flat surface somehow and sealed and captured in different locations and areas."—by Meng Du. The brief documentary video, titled "Shadow of Day, Shadow of Night," serves as a sincere statement to Meng Du's creative process and struggles spanning from 2020 to 2022. Despite the exceedingly turbulent and uncertain conditions surrounding glass-making during this time period, Meng Du tenaciously adapted to the circumstances and persevered with her artistic vision. The resulting solo exhibition, "Shadow of Day, Shadow of Night," stands as a testament to her unwavering persistence and commitment to her craft.
News and Reviews
“Meng Du Takes Over Fou Gallery with Her New Body of Glass Works.” Widewalls, 2023.4.3 [Link>>] [View PDF >>]
“Chinese artist, Meng Du writes evocatively about the concept behind 'A Pair of Glasses in the Kitchen,'” International Festival of Glass, 2023.2.10 [Link >>]
“Art Show | Fou Gallery Presents Artist Meng Du’s Solo Show: Shadow of Day, Shadow of Night.” Li Tang, 2023.2.6 [Link>>] [View PDF >>]
“Fou Gallery presents "Shadow of Day, Shadow of Night" featuring Meng Du's latest work.” CAFA Art Info, 2023.1.30 [Link>>] [View PDF >>]
“杜蒙：我从未“征服”玻璃”，Tatler Air ，2023.3.29 [Link>>] [View PDF >>]
Exhibition Catalogue
Design: Mingzi Ma, Barbara Song
Text: Lynn Hai
Events
A Public Poetry Reading: They Rise Like a Wave >>
Time: Saturday, April 1, 2023, 2:00–4:30 pm
The event was initiated by poet and performer Catherine Chen and co-organized by Fou Gallery. Catherine Chen keenly captured the non-linear narrative curatorial concept adopted by Fou Gallery's current exhibition Meng Du: Shadow of Day, Shadow of Night, combined with the poetic literariness of Meng Du's works, hoping to create a speculative feast to focus on female creators and practitioners in the field of contemporary art, as well as the general public who are interested in this topic.
Artist
Meng Du and her work Ripples. Photo by Fang Fei
Meng Du (b.1986, Beijing, China)
Meng Du graduated from the Graphic Design program of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (B.F.A.) in 2008 and the Digital Art program at the Department of Glass Program of Rochester Institute of Technology (M.F.A.) in 2013. Currently, she is living and working in Beijing. Her work has continued to exhibit in China, Europe, and in the United States. Her recent exhibitions include: My Flower Doesn't Have A Name Yet, Shanghai Museum of Glass, Shanghai (2023); Meng Du: Echo from the Highland II, Genesis Foundation, Beijing (2022); Finding Hidden Genius: Vivian Maier, Today Art Museum, Beijing (2021); Blazing Element, An+ Art & Design Center, Shenzhen (2020); Mind the Gap, The Delaware Contemporary, U.S.A. (2020); Meng Du: Embers, Fou Gallery, New York (2019); Meng Du: The Room, Shanghai Museum of Glass, Shanghai (2018) and The International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa at Shiinoki Cultural Complex, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan (2016). In June 2016, she had her first solo exhibition in New York: Meng Du: The Climb, The Fall at Fou Gallery, New York (2016). She served as a residency artist at Seto International Ceramic & Glass Art Exchange Program, Seto, Japan (2021) and Aichi University of Education Glass Program, Aichi, Japan (2017). Her work has been widely featured in China Daily, People’s Daily, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Yitiao, Art China, CAFA Art Info, and other media platforms. She was invited to give lectures at YiXi (2020) and ROG International Art Project Online Symposium (2020). In 2016, she won the Honorable Mention for The International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa (Kanazawa, Japan). In 2018, she won the 2018 Saxe Emerging Artist Award at 48th Glass Art Society Conference (Venice, Italy). She is the youngest artist who presented a solo exhibition at the Shanghai Museum of Glass.