Seen: In New Orleans, Carlos Zervigón bundles glass tubes to create organic vessels

Carlos Zervigon, Blue-Green Spectrum Step-Up, 2009. Glass. H 28, W 7, D 7 in. courtesy: cole pratt gallery, new orleans

With an opening reception from 6 to 8 PM this Saturday, January 9th, the Cole Pratt Gallery in New Orleans will be exhibiting the sculptures of native son Carlos Luis Zervigón in an exhibition entitled “Cristalia” that will run through February 14th, 2010. An accomplished artist, Zervigón is also a major force behind the rebirth of New Orleans glass scene since Katrina devastated many glass studios in 2005. As the president and CEO of New Orleans Creative Glass Institute, he has helped to organize and raise funds for a nonprofit glass center that has been rebuilt on the storm-damaged former site of Wet Dog Glass, studio fabricators who offered open access studios that were very important to area artists. (Wet Dog has since moved to North Carolina where they continue to operate successfully.)

Since Katrina, Zervigón’s work has moved away from its focus on environmental issues (the artist told the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet he felt this subject had become almost a cliche after the hurricane) and toward a more abstract direction. He has been working with assemblages of bundled glass tubes taking a variety approaches to color and creating gesture through careful shaping and curving of blown tubes. The surfaces of the glass are elaborately engraved with a diamond-wheel to add texture and expressive energy.

Carlos Zervigón, Twister, 2009. Blown and hotworked glass. H 21, W 9, D 7 in. courtesy: cole pratt galleries, new orleans

One notable new work is Twister (2009), in which three blown glass tubes are fused together in the hot shop, and given the torque and stretch that defines the work. This piece features Zervigón’s signature intensity of worked surfaces to reveal layers of colored glass. A returning student, Zervigón earned his BFA from Tulane in 2002.

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