1990

In this time line I pull quotes to illustrate a thread in popular and scholarly writing and criticism about glass. Here we will see current glass artists defending their art against the accusations and separating themselves from these stereotypes and, hopefully, find out how and where the now-common opinion was born. Fundamentally, the general thesis seems to be born of the question, What Is Art? This question I will leave to others to answer, here I am only documenting the written history of a popular way of thinking and a popular taste.

1990 David Bourdon:

“Although Chihuly has intermittently pursued the architectural implications of his glass art over the past 25 years, these new works [at Charles Cowles Gallery] mark an audacious advance, confirming his promise as one of the most innovative artists working in this medium.”

“One suspects that some of the variations are conceptually preordained, and some are the result of the dynamic physical properties of molten glass and the largely improvised methods with which it is blown into shapes that are subject to a multitude of accidents.”

“He is so deft at manipulating space that in a third work--a cluster of vessels with concentric red stripes--he even succeeds in spanning a corner: three bowls are deployed on the left wall and a fourth on the abutting right wall. The group suggests inexplicable flying-saucer-like flight through space, virtually redefining the architectural surroundings.”

“As a maker of wall reliefs, Chihuly now finds himself obliged to stake his claim to artistic uniqueness in a territory previously explored by other notable American sculptors, such as John Chamberlain, Lee Bontecou, Donald Judd and Larry Bell.

…Bell is an exemplary Minimalist, constructing geometric works out of industrially fabricated plate glass. Chihuly, by contrast, is a fantasist, improvising essentially bizarre pieces… Chihuly emerges as a red-hot virtuoso who exalts the craft of glassblowing into an uncharted new realm of artistic significance.”

Art in America. June 1990 . p. 165 “Chihuly: Climbing the Wall” by David Bourdon.