Joanna Manousis, Reaching an Ulterior Realm, 2010. Blown glass, mirror, bronze. courtesy: the artist
Though glass dominates at UrbanGlass’ 7th annual MFA Exhibition, opening tonight, each piece on view incorporates materials as varied as mirrors, natural artifacts, antiques, birch, and flannel. Open through March 17 at 111 Front Street in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood, the show features work by four recent MFA graduates from North American glass programs.
Beccy Feather's Ultra Shiny Laser Crystal is one element of her installation/performance piece, Ultra Shiny. courtesy: the artist
Ultra Shiny Laser Crystal (2010) appears from “Ultra Shiny,” Beccy Feather’s recent thesis show for which she organized a fake “exclusive event” complete with cocktails, VIP passes, and more. Her work reflects an application of glass more in line with highly conceptual multimedia and performance art than the object-objected Studio Glass approach.
“I make glass objects to reflect or call attention to everything except the object themselves,” notes Feather on her website. “I am not interested in glass an object; I am interested in events that occur because of a glass object’s presence.”
Joanna Manousis‘ Reaching an Ulterior Realm (2010) explores perceptions in a more traditional fashion than Feather’s work. Composed of six mounted Mylar balloons, bronze arrows “pierce” the space around them. The tongue-in-cheek work alludes to a darker side in the form of a single balloon successfully punctured by a bronze arrow. The piece previously appeared in “Breath Taking,” a traveling exhibition in the United Kingdom last year that shed light on a new generation of British glass artists.
Also included in the exhibition are works by Michael Hernandez and Tracy Kirchmann. In his anthropomorphic Terrestial Seeker (2010), Hernandez sets an eye-like glass orb on top of a surveying tripod. Black glass puddles spread across the ground in various shapes and sizes. Kirchmann’s Specimen (2010) also incorporates a wide range of objects, but while Hernandez creates a vertical composition, Kirchmann arranges found objects and relics, alongside glass pieces, across multiple shelves. Often, she incorporates recycled or altered glass into her work, using methane gas to create the pieces.
—Grace Duggan
IF YOU GO:
UrbanGlass MFA 2012
February 2, 2012 – March 17, 2012
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 2, 6-9PM
111 Front Street, Suite 216
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: 718.625.3685
Email: info@urbanglass.org
Website: www.urbanglass.org