Glass

Dimensions: 41 x 30 x 30cm

About: Zhao Jinya

China, B. 1994

Zhao Jinya playfully explores how glass can affect the viewers perception of reality and to engender emotional responses. She sees glass as an ideal medium to explore the themes of environment, emotions and personal experiences.

In her current collection she uses different glass qualities to explore the subtle relationships and tensions between colour, form, and structure. Inspired by ancient Chinese drinking and ritual vessels spotted during museum trips, the shape and form of her glass is taken directly from historic ceramic profiles. From prehistoric long-stemmed beakers to Qing Dynasty porcelain goblets, she focuses on a few points such the alternation between straight and curved lines within a profile and further develops them in glass.

She uses opaque and transparent layered blown glass to deliberately obscure the interior of the specific enigmatic forms. This creates a paradoxical interpretation of what is interior or exterior. The result is series of strangely decadent yet retrained geometric forms.

Her works have exhibited at the Westbund Art and Design Fair in Shanghai, Artefact 2021 at the Design Centre and has been collected by museums such as Ulster Museum, Southern Illinois University and Prague Gallery of Czech Glass.

Born and raised in China, Jinya Zhao discovered a passion for glass whilst studying for a BA at the China Academy of Art, and MA at the Royal College of Art in UK. She is currently a PhD Candidate at the Royal College of Art.