The Art of Sheng Shan Shan
The largest permanent art piece at Nashville International Airport will be dedicated Monday. It’s an 85-foot-long glass suspension sculpture titled “Waveform:Pan American Blues,” which hangs above the ticket counters.
The art piece was inspired by a digital sound wave from the song “Pan American Blues” performed by Country Music Hall of Fame member DeFord Bailey, the first black entertainer on the Grand Ole Opry radio show. The suspension sculpture was created by artist Shan Shan Sheng using 82 colored glass panels ranging in length from 7.5 feet to 14.5 feet.”
“Shan Shan Sheng grew up in Shanghai during the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution. Trained in traditional Chinese ink painting, she came to the United States in 1982 with Matisse and Cezanne high on her list of idols and influences. On a visit back to China, she was inspired by its ancient art. Her recent work, though abstract, continues to pay spiritual homage to her native culture.
Sheng continues an intriguing artistic journey that began in Shanghai and has bloomed in the United States. Whether reinterpreting China’s mythic past or exploring the power and potential of Western oil painting, Shan Shan Sheng taps the expressive spirit that links the paintings of the Dunhuang caves and Western modernism. Shan Shan Sheng is “a daughter of her times and the past, of China and the world.” Read on at Atelier Art.
