OPENING: Looking forward, looking back: “Bright Future” at Pratt Manhattan Gallery

Marco Dessi, Basket Chandelier, 2010. Brass, glass, and silk ropes. photo: vessel gallery.

Tonight, Pratt Manhattan Gallery opens an exhibition entitled “Bright Future: New Designs in Glass.” It is a show meant to honor the rich history of glass and to connect with its ancestors, be they the pioneers of the studio glass movement fifty years ago or the ancient Egyptians of three thousand years ago. That is not to say, however, that the show obsesses over only bygone years and ignores future possibilities: as suggested in the title, the show is as much about looking back as it is looking forward.

Guest curator of the exhibit, Philadelphia Art Alliance’s chief curator Sarah Archer, suggested that one approach to connecting with the past without getting stuck forever in old habits is to “acknowledge the existence of formal ancestors, and to play with them.” Marco Dessi’s “Basket Chandelier,” for instance, takes inspiration from a baroque lighting fixture and then flattens the design. This twisting of preconceptions regarding old and new, two words that usually have very little commonalities, “engages both the past and the present in a dialogue.”

Archer further desired in her curatorial approach to the show to explore the intersection of glass as both an art and an industry of glass. She noticed quickly that two features were common across the glass world: that glass has been and is a very malleable and enduring material, and that many glass artists described their medium as light rather than glass. This phenomena is excellently illustrated by James Carpenter’s proposed design for the Moynihan Station on 8^th Avenue. “His design incorporates massive, undulating glass enclosures that let sunlight into the station during the day and project internal illumination at night,” effectively capturing that timeless quality of glass as an illuminator.

“The experience of beholding an object that can capture, bend and scatter light as only glass can has been dazzling people for thousands of years,” said Archer. “Really masterful design and handling of glass doesn’t have to be squiggly or flashy – sometimes it can be so subtle you don’t focus on its ‘glassness’ at all.”

“Bright Future” will be on display from February 10^th through May 5^th. The exhibition opens with a free reception from 6-8PM.

—Anna Tatelman