For Li Yupu, glass is a perfect  medium for reaching beyond the  surface of life. 

“Artists use techniques like  blowing, casting and hot melting  to transform glass into works of art  with rich textures and different  shapes,” says Li, who is a professor  from the China Academy of Art  and vice-dean of its School of  Crafts. 

 Li is the curator of the Hangzhou  International Contemporary Glass  Art Exhibition, which opened on  Jan 10 at the China Design Museum  of the China Academy of Art in  Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, and  which runs until March 10. 

Gathering together the latest work  by 32 artists from countries including China, Japan, Australia, and the  United States, the exhibition, which  takes reality and illusion as its theme  this year, seeks to present a visual  feast of light and color. 

According to Li, some of the pieces outline dreamlike spatial  structures in bold, innovative  lines, some create a serene and  distant atmosphere through delicate gradations of color, while others combine technologies of light  and shadow. It is the third iteration of the exhibition, the previous  two held in 2014 and 2017, respectively. 

 According to Igor Frolov, an  award-winning artist based in  Montenegro, glass is a one-of-a-kind medium in that it can be fickle, constantly in a state of flux, yet  also be immutable. He is displaying  one of his pieces, Sequential Evolution, at the exhibition. 

“Due to its characteristics, we  need to negotiate and work with  glass, to discover how to be its partner, its friend,” he says.  

“When I’m satisfied with the  final result, I dance,” he adds, saying that glass can “become an artist’s collaborator” and helps convey  their ideas with class. 

This is a rather fitting metaphor  for the exhibition as well, the curator says, as it has become an important platform for dialogue and  exchange between artists from  around the world.