Seth Randal at work in the studio.
GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What are you working on?
Seth Randal: I’m at work on a new series that’s an offshoot of my “Larger Than Life” series I began in 1993. Depicting gods, kings, queens, and mythological figures from different cultures and times—these people were indeed larger than life. I enjoyed a certain freedom and lack of restraint with the “Larger Than Life” series as these pieces were very stylized. After working on it for nearly 20 years, I felt it was time to move forward and challenge myself technically and artistically. This new series depicts an array of strong and powerful women, again from different cultures and time periods but in a bust form and in a much more realistic fashion. I titled the series “Adorned” because these women are draped in elaborate cloth, embellished with jewelry, crowns, hats and headdresses appropriate to their positions in life, as you can see in the work She Reflects (2012). The technique of actually sewing articles of clothing and then pulling molds off them has been both frustrating and rewarding. Even more rewarding has been the challenge to my sculptural skills and techniques. I had never really been forced to be so exact as to where the jawline ended, how long the chin was, where the ears were placed on the head, etc.
Seth Randal, She Reflects (from the “Adorned” series), 2012. Cast crystal, gold, copper. Life-size.
GLASS: What have you experienced recently that inspired you and got you thinking about your own work?
Seth: I’m always being asked, “Where do you get your inspiration?” Usually I have the same answer. In the course of any given day I see thousands upon thousands of images and, for some reason, I file some of these images away like files on a hard drive. Later, for no apparent reason, some of these images will come back to inspire me.
While mildly interested in fashion, I never really thought about it much until I went to a big Hollywood awards show last year. I was fascinated by the spectacle of pomp and display—by the women in particular with their elaborate hairstyles, jewels and gowns; their assistants and publicists hovering like a swarm of mosquitoes. It dawned on me later that in almost all vertebrates on this planet, with the exception of Homo Sapiens, it is the males who were adorned in order to attract the opposite sex, and to show rank, status and prestige. Thus, the beginnings of a new series was born.
GLASS: Where is it possible to see your work?
Seth: I currently have an exhibition up at Scott Jacobson Gallery in New York City. My work can also be seen in the collections of The Smithsonian Institution; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Montreal Museum of Arts; the Seattle Art Museum; the Museum of Arts and Design; the Tacoma Art Museum; The Corning Museum of Glass; the Glasmuseet in Ebeltoft, Denmark; the American Museum of Art; the Hotel Murano in Tacoma, Washington; Hotel Max in Seattle; and the Ritz Carlton in Atlanta.