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‘GLASS’ Exhibition Explores the Medium with Three Art Greats

Glass represents elements of nature, explores the connection between the cosmic and the personal, and challenges narratives of race and culture in an NYC-based group show that opens this week. To explore the use of glass as an artistic medium, Pace Gallery presents the works of Kiki Smith, Maya Lin, and Fred Wilson over the last few decades. GLASS is a collection of pieces, which are either made of glass or which use glass as a found object. The three highly-celebrated artists, born within five years of each other, use the material to strikingly different effects, creating at once a varied and exceptional exhibition.

Lin, who received a National Medal of the Arts in 2009, uses the material to contemplate the state of the environment. Starting in 1994, at a residency in Stanwood, WA, Lin began to use glass to mimic natural elements, originally creating glass representations of water-worn rocks. Now, she creates brown drops of water out of glass in an 11-part floor piece called Point 11. Her wall piece Wahweap, which traces the water from Lake Powell to Lake Mead with glass marbles, will also be displayed.

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Maya Lin, Wahweap, 2016, glass marbles and adhesive. 16′ 6″ x 16′ 9″ x 1″ (502.9 cm x 510.5 cm x 2.5 cm). Photo by: Tom Barratt / Pace Gallery © Maya Lin, courtesy Pace Gallery

Kiki Smith, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has worked with glass since the mid 1980s, and a variety of her work will be on display at the exhibition. Her work targets the connection between the spiritual and physical worlds. In a floor piece called Mine, Smith scatters 3D red glass stars. The piece asks questions about the individual’s connection to the universe. Her glass plate prints, and a collection of glassware, will also be displayed. Smith recently debuted her collection of amazingly vibrant electronically-woven tapestries.

Installation view of Maya Lin Kiki Smith Fred Wilson: GLASS Photo by: Tom Barratt / Pace Gallery © Fred Wilson, courtesy Pace Gallery © Kiki Smith, courtesy Pace Gallery © Maya Lin, courtesy Pace Gallery

Fred Wilson, who was a recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s “Genius” Grant, the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture, and the Alain Locke Award, has worked with glass to explore race and culture in America. In his piece Love, Loss, and the Milky Way, he placed milk glasses next to classical-style statues and a cookie jar which depicted a racial caricature. He’s also created black glass drips, and collaborated with Venetian glassmakers to create black mirrors and chandeliers. The mirror displayed in GLASS is called I Saw Othello’s Visage In His Mind.

GLASS is open until August 19th at Pace Gallery. Learn more about it here.

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