GLASS #130, Spring 2013
The new issue of GLASS: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#130) is hitting newsstands and subscriber mailboxes. On the cover of the Spring 2013 edition is a recent work by Lino Tagliapietra entitled Barene (2012). GLASS contributing editor Victoria Josslin writes: “Not content to soak in the glow of appreciation that follows this elder statesman of glassblowing where ever he travels, Tagliapietra continues to work with glass in stunningly fresh ways.” Josslin goes on to explore his newest series of large-scale kiln-fused glass panels, an unexpected change of direction for the nearly 80-year-old artist. While Tagliapietra experimented with kiln-forming in the late 1990s, he has recently made two-dimensional panels his focus, investing considerable time and money into realizing abstract compositions that glow with the light passing through their translucent mass. The stunning results are examined in detail with lush photographs telling the visual story.
Elsewhere in GLASS #130, contributing editor James Yood examines the collaborative project of Laura Donefer and Jeff Mack that marries exuberance with sober virtuosity.” Mack’s classicism harmonizes perfectly with Donefer’s predilection for primary frontal views,” writes Yood, arguing that this joint project allows each artist access to territory they wouldn’t be able to explore on his or her own.
Gerhard Richter may be one of the most important painters of the post-war era, but he’s also been working with the material of glass for nearly his entire career, as we learn in contributing editor William Ganis’s feature article. Richter uses reverse painting on glass to intensify and activate the play of light, and Ganis argues that the material also offers a connection to the artist’s photorealistic work which once employed glass plates in their technical process. Richter’s largest glass project to date is the pixelated Cologne Cathedral Window (2007) that Ganis connects to a statement by the artist more than 40 years earlier: “Art is not a substitute religion: it is a religion … “
Rounding out the features is an illuminating interview with Michael Rogers, who offers insights into the life experiences that have shaped his explorations of resonant objects that express the poetry of experience through light-transmitting glass objects that take on a carefully considered visual poetry. Rogers, who is head of the glass program at the Rochester Institute of Technology, shares his thoughts on everything from the issue of copying in glass art to why he so rarely works in series.
The reviews in GLASS #130 include Jeffrey Sarmiento‘s exhibition at Ken Saunders Gallery in Chicago; Ron Desmett at Kim Foster Gallery, New York City; Stephen Rolfe Powell at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Alabama’s capital city; a jewelry group exhibition at Claire Oliver Gallery in New York City; and Esque Studio’s Andi Kovel and Justin Parker at Wexler Gallery in Philadelphia.
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