OPENING: Jeff Zimmerman’s new work at New York’s R 20th Century gallery

New work by Jeff Zimmerman includes this uinque sculpture in fluorescent hand-blown glass. photo: sherry griffin

R 20th Century, a gallery in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood, will feature new work by Jeff Zimmerman in an exhibition that opens Tuesday, November 15th. Zimmerman opened “OBJECT D’ARTE” with David Wiseman in Seoul, Korea on November 4, and has jetted back to the states to be be present for the opening of his New York solo show. The exhibition will be an opportunity to experience Zimmerman’s wide range of work that will be on display. While every piece in the show has been assembled in the past year, and in some cases the past month, most are the culmination of series he has been developing over the past eight years. The result is to walk through a myriad of his works, with each series displayed so devotees and casual viewers alike will gain a comprehensive sense of his search for sculptural forms that marry ornate gesture with organic simplicity.

Lily Kane, R 20th Century’s curator, maintains that the nature of Zimmerman’s artistic output implies the constant working of new creations. “Because each piece is handmade, every piece is new,” she told the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet in a telephone interview. This is easy to spot in his custom made works such as the “Curving Vine Illuminated Sculptures” series. The gallery will feature a forest of these objects, which in itself would a be a striking show.

There is gallery space devoted to some of his new shapes, including bubble and feather clusters. Kane explains that Zimmerman’s constant reworking of design allows for small tweaks and changes that define his body of work. She says, “A piece that he’s created can look totally different the next year, and [the] cumulative affect is really stunning.” His latest sculptures employ light to add a new scale of depth and nuance to the original form. Lit from the back, different shades of color can be detected in every masterful curve of the sculpture.

The term “master” continually pops up in descriptions of the work of Jeff Zimmerman, a forerunner in glass art with a high degree of glassblowing skills as well as an impressive list of international exhibitions, commissions and faculty positions. His work displays profound technical skill and boundary-breaking vision while maintaining a reverence for the medium. He will be in attendance at tomorrow’s opening.

—Katharine Morales