Zhen Ning Li was born in Beijing where he studied art at the Tsing-hui Academy of Art and Design between 2007 and 2010. He is a Master of Art in Glass and has been teaching at the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture since completing his studies.
There is a strong reference in the work of the artist to Chinese mythology. His figures, without direct characteristics of gender, are abstract and the colors are intentional blurred in each other. Through his glass images, Zhen Ning Li reflects on why and what for we are here. In his work the spectator sees the mythological characters of gods, devils, dragons and beasts. The figures, which emerge in part from reality and in part from imagination, seem to fight. In spite of their battle, they nevertheless manage to maintain their balance.
The sculptures are metaphors for the transformations, adaptations, and turbulences that people in our contemporary society go through. They mirror the challenge of keeping body and soul in harmony while taking history into account, and remind of the continual struggle for survival.
The artist asks his audience to look at his work openly, so that they can understand and interpret it in their own way. His works allow the viewers to move from everyday life back to the past; they allow people to recall various aspects of human history.
Zhen Ning Li acknowledgement is rising in China because of the development of the art of glass. This is evident, among other things, by the recognition of various aspects such as his last major solo exhibition ‘WANDERING’ that Zhen Ning Li had in the Shanghai Museum of Glass from December 2017 to April 2018.
Work by Zhen Ning Li is now in many museum collections, including that of the Alexander Tutsek Stiftung in Munich; CORE 3 Association Foundation in the US and in many private collections.
