Description
A celebrated artist in China and the US, Li Hongwei is known for his artistic, conceptual, and technical fusion of the past and present in innovative works that combine classical Chinese ceramics and the tenets of Western modernism. Constructing Radiance is the companion to Hongwei’s 2024 exhibition at the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum at Alfred University.
Sculpture, a product of constructing forms in three-dimensional space, is embedded in the history of human endeavor and is often associated with a search for meaning. Radiance is an ephemeral condition, a reflection of light or a rare luminosity. Radiance often suggests an exquisite harmony as universals underlying reality unite in timeless balance. These words which contextualize the exhibition suggest a framework for contemplating the ever-expanding achievement of sculptor Li Hongwei.
About the Author
Li Hongwei is a contemporary artist who works and lives in Beijing and Upstate New York. His works have been acquired by the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, The Israel Museum, the Harvard Art Museums, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Long Museum, among others. Hongwei holds a bachelor’s degree in sculpture from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, and a master’s in ceramic art from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, NY.
Wayne Higby is director of the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum and is a professor at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
October 2025