OPENING: Ann Wolff’s first solo show in Berlin opens Friday

Ann Wolff, Milla, 2010. Kiln casted glass, H 14, W 8, D 4 in. photo courtesy: the artist

UPDATED 3/21 with correct gallery address.

Ann Wolff, a pioneering glass artist with a 50-year career, is earning more recognition this decade than ever before, with prizes and awards. This weekend, she will have her work featured in a solo gallery exhibition, her first in Berlin. Known best for her role as an early European champion of the Studio Glass approach, and one of the first European artists making glass work outside of the factory system, her kiln-formed, cast glass, and concrete sculptures as well as the drawings from which her 3D artworks are based will be presented in an exhibition entitled “Heads or Tails: New Sculptures in Glass & Concrete; Drawings” at Galerie Seitz & Partner in Berlin from March 10 through April 14.

In the past year Wolff has been awarded both the Glass Art Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the European Culture Prize “Pro Europa” for her contribution to contemporary glass art. GLASS #121, Winter 2010-11 featured a kiln cast glass sculpture titled Domus I on its cover, as well as a feature article detailing the trajectory of her career by arts writer Martina Windels. Despite decades of achievement in contemporary sculpture, Wolff has never been granted a solo exhibition in one of Europe’s premiere arts capitals – Berlin.

Ann Wolff, Northland, 2010. Kiln-cast glass; H 26, W 22, D 6 in. photo courtesy: the artist

As detailed in Windel’s article, along with a brief overview on the Hot Sheet, Wolff tends toward the fluid in her recent work, creating sculptures that are bursting with movement and life despite the stark materials from which they are created. Northland, (2010), for example, employs kiln-cast glass in subtle grayscale standing over two-feet tall, but there is drama in its subtle tragedy. One figure, headless, leans to the left, resigned to its post while the other emerges from the right in an effort to move on. The viewer recalls Giacometti sculptures and Picasso portraits because somehow, the less representative the figure, the more humanity is captured in the image. These glass and concrete beings evoke thought and effort without relying on discernible features.

Galerie Seitz writes of Woff’s recent work, “tension is created between statics and dynamics, rhythm and minimal movement: an energetic state, a ‘space in time.’ “

A native of Lübeck, Germany, Ann Wolff has lived for much her life in Sweden, but has always spent time in Germany. She has had a second home and residence in Berlin for over 10 years, and is long overdue for an exhibition to call her own in Germany’s capital city. An opening of her new exhibition will take place on Friday, March 9, at 7 PM.

—Katharine Morales