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Wednesday November 18, 2009 | by Andrew Page

Opening: Glass comes alive in Jeff Zimmerman’s “Drawings in Glass” exhibition

FILED UNDER: Design, Exhibition, Opening

Jeff Zimmerman, Serpentine Wall Sculpture, 2009. courtesy: r 20th century

On Thursday evening, November 19th, glassblower Jeff Zimmerman’s highly dynamic, nearly kinetic wall sculptures will be unveiled at an opening at R 20th Century, an art and design gallery in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood.

Zimmerman’s diverse works, which straddle the line between art and design, are unified in their expression of natural movement through forms that reference droplets, vines, and even snakes slithering up a wall. There is a tension between the apparent simplicity of the objects themselves and the expert rendering in glass they represent. In Zimmerman’s hands, glass takes on line and gesture more often associated with drawings, hence the exhibition title.

Jeff Zimmerman, Splash, 2009. Blown glass, silvered. courtesy: r 20th century

With some works functioning as lighting, while others blur the line between sculpural and decorative, Zimmerman’s work defies easy categorization. His complex intentions are discussed in a gallery release: “In creating this collection Zimmerman employed a calculated naiveté and lexicon of elemental forms that belie his incomparable craftsmanship and stature as one of the preeminent glassblowers working today. Seemingly simple, the pieces each push the boundaries of both the material and the traditions of glassblowing, creating a landscape of breathtaking, wholly unique forms.”

IF YOU GO:

Jeff Zimmerman
“Drawings in Glass”
November 19th, 2009 – January 8th, 2010
Opening November 19th, 6 PM – 8 PM
R 20th Century Gallery
82 Franklin Street
New York, NY 10013
Telephone: 212-343-7979

Glass: The UrbanGlass Quarterly, a glossy art magazine published four times a year by UrbanGlass has provided a critical context to the most important artwork being done in the medium of glass for more than 40 years.