OPENING: David Colton’s abstracted pipes at Easy Street Gallery in Brooklyn

With swirling, slashing lines and bold colors, David Colton makes functional pipes that reference graffiti and other influences.

Continuing its push to elevate borosilicate pipes from drug paraphernalia sold in head shops to sculptural objects sold in a gallery environment, Easy Street will host an opening of the work of David Colton on Saturday, February 26th, at its Williamsburg, Brooklyn, gallery. The exhibition, titled “Get Bent!” is a wry reference not only to the swirling, flowing lines that rapidly change direction in Colton’s work, but also the end result of using this functional piece for its ability to burn different types of tobacco.

Easy Street opened its doors in Brooklyn in 2009 as a bid to redefine the venue where the work of the most creative and ambitious glass pipe makers is shown. Unlike a head shop with its crowded glass cases and retail environment, Easy Street has spot-lit vitrines with one or two items on display, curated shows and opening receptions that draw musicians, Brooklyn hipsters, and those with a taste for transgressive underground art.

“We are here to show sculptural glass that is also functional. When a person walks through Easy Streets doors it’s a totally different experience from any head shop that exists because it’s actually a gallery,” said gallery general manager Korin Prince. “We rep the artists and are here to bring the work to a higher level than what it has been viewed as for so long: degenerate art.”

Colton’s work will be featured in a solo-show through March 23rd.

In an interview with the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet, Colton admitted that breaking into the fine-art scene is something new for him, as Get Bent! will be his first formal art show. “I don’t know exactly how I make what I make. I don’t know exactly how to explain what I make. I didn’t really think about all of this until the show, so it’s been like catch-up from day one.”

David Colton pipe to be displayed at Easy Street Gallery exhibit Get Bent!

Easy Street’s Prince was better at articulating the compelling aspects of Colton’s work: “The shapes that his pieces take on have a flow to them that is very abstract and seems to read almost how each person has their own unique form of handwriting,” she said. “It’s almost as if he is signing his signature in the form of every piece but with careful consideration to functionality at the same time.”

Colton began working with glass in Colorado 15 years ago. Influenced by his friends in the glass-art community, he began looking beyond pipe-making in 2001, studying with flameworkers Milon Townsend, Cesare Toffolo, and Emilio Santini. “These guys influenced a lot of the stuff I’ve been practicing and working on since I took their classes ten years ago. I’ve been using those techniques and ideas and putting them together with graffiti stuff that I grew up with.”

The exhibit “Get Bent!” will highlight not only Colton’s ability to make functional glassware for smokers, but his ability to craft pieces of work that Easy Street’s gallery manager believes should be seen as components of the contemporary art scene.

Easy Street Gallery opened its doors in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in a bid to present high-end pipe-making as a fine art.

On February 26th, the gallery will offer a close look at Colton’s work amidst a party with live music and free alcohol, from 7 to 10 PM.

—Alica Forneret