Voyage of Light Ⅱ - Glass Art Group Exhibition
2023.05.09 - 2023.06.03
Exhibition Statement
The foundation of contemporary glass art is developed from Venice, Italy. It became the major centre of Europe’s glassmaking in the 14th century and it is still a popular destination for glass artists and glass lovers to visit nowadays. The highly skilled craftsmen create glass artworks incisively and remarkably. The buildings, accessories and even tableware showed the integration of traditional glass craftsmanship and the daily life of the local people. Today, the splendid glass culture bloomed in Japan. Glass products were luxury items dedicated to the upper class, until the 18th century, glass craftsmanship was popularised, and contemporary craftsmen inherited the skills to improve it. The fusion of Western glass art and Japanese traditional aesthetics has opened up a unique glass art world.
This May, Touch Ceramics proudly presents an international glass art group exhibition, with artists from all over the world, including Italy, the United States, Slovenia and Japan. Each artist uses glass as the medium with different skills to present the artworks in a unique way. The internationally renowned Silvia Levenson integrates traditional European craftsmanship with modern art and design, and explores the femininity of glass. Artist Kaja Upelj's creation captures the colour essence and fluidity of glass, infusing metal to glass in order to create a world of symphony. Austin Stern creates grotesque yet lovely creatures in glass, expressing various emotions of comfort, anxiety or even fear. Keiji Okushima loves the "randomness" in glass making. He enjoys letting his own mood and state into the glass making instead of having it made precise as a machine. Kota Arinaga’s works are both stylish and classical. Among all his works, the technique of laced glass is the most representative, they naturally exude a classical atmosphere with the modern and neat cuts. Under Maimi Tsurubayashi's exquisite and delicate techniques, the artwork glows with dreamy light, which looks stunning from any angle. Yukako Kojima elegantly crafts different cross-sections and creates a unique visual illusion utilising the difference in glass densities.
The exhibition spotlights on displaying 80 pieces of Kiriko artwork created by the famous Japanese artist Toshiyasu Nakamura in the past ten years. Nakamura's works not only present the Japanese traditional craftsmanship, but also showing a modern life culture. The dynamic lines and carvings add colours to our life by letting us observe the changes of light from all times.
Continuing the wonderful journey of light last year, Touch Ceramics sincerely presents " Voyage of Light II—Glass Art Group Exhibition". Presenting the glass art creations with the artist's ingenuity, we invite everyone to experience this spring and summer with the Chemical reaction of light and glass, and enjoy the beautiful world between the flow of light and shadow.
