WANYING LIANG FOR LUXE INTERIOR + DESIGN
WANYING LIANG FOR LUXE INTERIORS + DESIGN
Wanying Liang is a sculptor based in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Originally from North West China, Liang's work is deeply influenced by the traditional culture of her hometown and the feelings of cultural isolation she felt while studying in the United States. Through her work, she aims to allow the viewer to feel a sense of contemplation and calm. Her work often uses plant and animal motifs, sometimes combining them in a surreal way.
Luxe Interiors + Design asked me to travel from Buffalo to Alfred, NY, to spend an incredible afternoon with Liang at her home studio and create some portraits of her for a feature in the magazine. After a tour of the space, I was honored to receive a private showing of many recently completed sculptures and works-in-progress — the work I was particularly drawn to was a series of smaller-scale works similar in form to her large sculptures but in vivid blue and yellow hues.
After chatting and admiring her current work, I began lighting her studio for the first portrait, which was slated to be a broad overview showing Wanying in her work environment. Because she works from a home studio, much of the key light was provided by opening her garage doors, letting her be lit by mid-morning light — though a few auxiliary lights were used to give a little more illumination in the further reaches of the studio where the sunlight wasn't reaching. Many of my editorial portraits utilize a mix of natural and artificial light like this.
After this key image was created, we did collaborate on a few more variations of portraits that showed her with particular critical work from her current collection. I then had to transition to a more journalistic mindset as I documented Wanying's work process, creating a small group of images that illustrated her creating small details on pieces, working with clay on her potter's wheel, tools, and glazing tests that had accumulated around the studio, and even getting to photograph many of her conceptual sketches. Many of these images focused on Wanying's hands as a subject, the essential tools she uses to give her heart and mind's vision into tangible form.
You can read the whole story in Luxe Interiors + Design here.